Phoenix Flames
by jade-snake
Summary: life is great as the summer of 6 year arrives, but a terrible tragedy and a few well kept secrets find hermione's life being torn apart. she must go through sudden changes alone... who will she turn to? very eventual dhr, pre HBP
1. hell's fury

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever claim to own Harry Potter or any rights regarding him and the other characters (though I wouldn't mind owning Draco ;) and rights to him) lol, j/k.

Well, this is yet another Jade-Snake fanfiction; I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it! Please review! (I'm not going to post the next chapter till I get at least five. Sorry, but that's the deal.) At the beginning Hermione is going to sound like a Mary-Sue, but that's the point, keep reading though, that quickly changes! And just an FYI – I started writing this before Half Blood Prince so any of the events that transpired are not going to be spoiled in this story. Well, enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Hell's Fury

Hermione Granger had the perfect life . . . perfect grades, perfect student, perfect personality, perfect teeth, perfect looks, and now the perfect boyfriend. She was of course dating Harry Potter.

Hermione came back to school in sixth year as prefect, as was to be expected of her. Her hair was down to her waist and had tamed down considerably by the extra weight of it. Her body, which was considered unfeminine all the way through her fifth year, was finally filling out, though no one would know it as she always wore baggy clothes and her school robes to cover it up.

She'd gotten 'Outstanding' on everyone of her O.W.L.s and finally fell out of her know-it-all stage. Then, at the end of summer, Harry asked her to be his girlfriend. Life couldn't be any better as the summer of sixth year was fast approaching.

Finally, the day came when Hermione Granger's life as she knew it, would be forever changed. The day that her perfect world was shattered . . .

"Has anyone seen my Hogwarts, a History?" called Hermione who was finished packing except for her myriad of books.

"It's in here where you left it Mione!" called Harry from the common room of the Gryffindor tower.

Hermione poked her head out to scan the room for her favorite book. Harry held it up and Hermione skipped down the stairs and grabbed her prized book.

She placed a light kiss on Harry's cheek and said, "Thanks Harry."

Then she raced back up the stairs to put her book away. Five minutes later, she came back down the stairs and plopped down in between Harry (who put his arm around her shoulder) and Ron. "I'm finally done!" she declared.

"Great because the house elves are about to come and grab all the stuff and take it to Hogsmeade," said Harry who leaned in and kissed her cheek quickly.

"Get a room you two!" said Ron in exasperation. "It's bad enough you two are all lovey-dovey, but you can at least spare me from having to watch it every bloody time you two are together."

Hermione laughed good-naturedly, "Sorry Ron, we'll try to avoid any lurid displays of affection whilst you are present."

"I'm not even sure what you just said exactly, but I'm guessing it's good," Ron said.

"Yes Ron, it's good for you," said Harry sighing and removing his arm from Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione looked at her watch, "Oh, it's time to go down to the carriages already!"

They made their way down to the front lawns casting a look back at the school before getting into one of the carriage drawn by 'thestrals'.

The next few hours went by mostly in silence since . . . what could you say to your friends when you knew Voldemort was on the rise, the ministry wasn't much help, and the wizarding world was on the brink of war?

Harry held Hermione's hand and stared absently out the window of the carriage, and the same went for the train ride home.

Ron borrowed a deck of muggle cards from Hermione and played a game known as Solitaire, which she had taught to him back at the burrow at the end of fifth year.

Harry pulled Hermione to him and just held her there, resting his chin on the crown of her head.

Hermione would occasionally mention any moves he could make when he was stuck and frustrated. This went on for the whole train ride for the most part.

The train whistle blew and they all got up and got all of there belongings.

Hermione had gotten her driver's license during the winter holiday so her car was there and her parents were standing by to help with the luggage.

Hermione had volunteered to take Harry home near the end of school and arranged it with his aunt and uncle so he'd have as long as possible until he had to see them again.

"Just be careful Mione, you haven't driven for a while and I don't want to hear of any accidents when I get home."

"I know how to drive mum! We'll be fine. Thanks for driving my car here, I'll see you when I get home," Hermione snapped at her mother's over-protectiveness.

"I'll see you then, your father is waiting in the car . . . he'd probably would like to going now. Bye Mione, bye Harry, "she said awkwardly as she turned and walked away.

"Bye Mrs. Granger!" Harry called after her. "Okay, let's go Mione."

So about forty-five minutes later, Hermione pulled into the Dursley's driveway. Harry grabbed all of his belongings, dragged them inside, and put them away (with Hermione's help,) then kissed Hermione's cheek. And fifteen minutes later Hermione was getting ready to make her way home.

"See you later then Mione, don't forget to write and visit!" called Harry after her as she stepped into her car.

Hermione smiled and called back, "Bye Harry! I won't forget!" She shut the door and began the drive to her home, which coincidentally was only about a fifteen minute drive from Number four, Privet Drive.

When she pulled into the driveway of her split-level house fifteen minutes later, something looked wrong. Not only was there a black jaguar car that she didn't recognize in the driveway, the telly wasn't on in the living room, and she was used to seeing the telly on from the top right window. She brushed it off as company, maybe relatives or friends of the family came up for a visit. She shrugged and went inside only to be greeted by a deadly sounding silence.

She had the distinct feeling that she should not be the one to break that silence either. She walked slowly and noiselessly to her parents' room as though drawn there by a mysterious magnetic force.

She peered through the crack of light coming from the door, which was left slightly ajar.

What she saw inside then, she would never forget so long as she lived . . . her parents cowered in the corner and a man keeping them there only by gun point and their sheer determination not to set him off.

Hermione didn't wait any longer before she tiptoed down the hallway and grabbed her dad's cellular phone off of the kitchen counter. She quickly hid in the food storage closet in the kitchen, and only just in time, as two other men walked up the stairs and down the hall to her parents' room, each carrying a bag full of things, which she could only assume was possessions of theirs.

Hermione hurriedly dialed the police and held the phone to her ear shakily, watching the stairs and the hall all the while.

"Hello, this is the Surrey Police Station, please state your emergency."

Hermione said as loudly as she dared, "I think my house is being robbed. My parents are being held at gunpoint and there are three men that I've seen so far, but there could be more. Please help me, I'm really frightened."

"What is your location ma'am?" asked the female voice on the other end.

"Number 7, Ridgeway Drive."

"Okay, someone will be with you immediately, just hold on. And make sure that you stay out of sight and don't make any noise."

"Please hurry!" Hermione said very quietly, but frantically.

Fortunately for Hermione, the police station was nearby, about five minutes away. Unfortunately though, one of the men there chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. Hermione hadn't noticed him when she was on the phone, but judging the way that he was looking around the kitchen, either he had heard something, or someone else had and sent him to look.

Even more unfortunately, something in the closet fell at that precise moment, which caused the man to yank the door open. Without a second to spare, he grabbed Hermione's wrist and pulled her into her parents' bedroom.

"Boss, lookie what I have here . . . caught this chit hidin' out in the closet . . . with this." He roughly pulled her hand up to reveal the cellular phone she held fast to.

"You haven't called the police by any chance have you girly?" he asked her, still pointing the gun at her parents.

"No . . . No - I mean no. . . I . . . I didn't," Hermione stammered out in fear as she lied to the man who held their lives in his hands.

"You wouldn't be lying would you? Because I don't like liars, especially if you're lying to me. And if you are, I'll kill the three of you . . . starting with them," he nodded sharply towards her parents then looked her directly in the eyes.

Hermione looked at her mum and dad, then to the man with the gun. "No, I'm not lying. I swear I'm not; I didn't call the police," she said firmly.

"Good. You know what? I'm in a good mood today, so I'll believe you," he said lowering his gun, and doing something that, to Hermione, looked like it had something to do with the safety lock. She gave a silent sigh of relief at this motion and then something happened that she didn't expect in that momentary lapse when she let her guard down.

She heard the gun being cocked, and then the sound of a bullet, tearing through the air and hitting her father in the chest. "NO!" she screamed as the resounding pierce of the bullet filled the air. She watched in horror as her father slumped to the floor in pain.

"Hermione, Anna, I love you," he said quietly as death was coming over him and another bullet was shot at him, directly into his heart this time causing he and his wife to be covered in his blood.

Hermione felt as though there was fire coursing through her blood as he fired another shot at her mother, who fell on her husband with a dull thud, and their blood spilled onto the floor like an ominous pool of coppery-crimson water.

Hermione ran to her parents and, not caring about how dirty she would get from the blood, fell onto them and held them tightly as she began to yell frantically, "MUM, DAD! PLEASE DON'T DIE! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE LIKE THIS! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE! I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE COME BACK!" Tears of sorrow laced with tears of anger mingled with spots of blood on her cheeks in shiny streams as she confirmed that Anna and John Granger were indeed dead.

She held them for a second longer and then let go and stood to face the man with the gun square on. She attempted to tackle him in her rage, but he threw her easily to the ground and she heard a sickening snap in her wrist as she landed on top of it. She yelped from the pain of the breaking of a bone in her wrist, but she quickly stood up again as he held his gun and readied himself to fire again, this time at her.

A wave of fury swept over her and suddenly she felt herself levitating and a wave of scorching heat emanated from her and caused the men to scream in agony as the heat tore at their skin and burnt their flesh. "YOU SODDING BASTARDS!" she cried as another wave of heat, almost five times stronger this time, spread throughout the room and the three men in the room fell to the floor crying out in pain as their skin blistered from the immense amount of heat. Each feeling as though his flesh were literally on fire, and could almost probably very accurately describe being burned alive.

Time seemed to slow momentarily as Hermione saw a haunting sight, she was surrounded by fire, and her hair was fanned out around her like a crown of silky brown flames, but the most unusual thing was her eyes; her eyes glowed red, yellow, and orange like raging fire when she chanced a look into the full length mirror on the wall across the room. She felt a sense of fear, indifference, and peace wash over her as she looked into the eyes of her reflection, which looked nothing like the quiet little bookworm that everyone knew and loved, and instantly felt the power draining from her.

She felt suddenly very cold, almost like she was slowly being frozen to death. She felt as though everything in the world had suddenly just sped up and went back into normal time.

The next thing that she knew, she fell in a heap to the floor from pain and exhaustion, and the wave of heat subsiding, making the room feel like an arctic chill in a scorching desert, and everything went black as she saw the man with the gun stand and aim for her . . .


	2. a phoenix's tears

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Harry Potter. I do not - ah bloody hell! What's the use? (Sorry, trying to convince myself of it . . . j/k) We all know I don't own Harry Potter. It was all J. K. Rowling's idea!

I know I said I wanted 5 reviews, but I had the chapter ready so I just figured I'd post anyway. I'M EXPECTING NO LESS THAN SEVEN MORE REVIEWS THOUGH SINCE I DIDN'T GET THE FIVE I REQUESTED! It's not that hard! You just read, review and it's done and over with!) If you have any shred of decency and you are currently reading my story . . . REVIEW! Ahem Anyways, sorry about the evil little cliffy that I left in the first chapter, but it seemed like such a wonderful place to stop. I mean come on; did you really want to hear about what happened to Hermione? Well, I guess you should . . . I wasn't going to with hold that information from the public forever! Enough talking, now it's time for reading!

Chapter 2 - A Phoenix's Tears

The next thing Hermione remembered was waking up alone in the hospital. Terrified and alone . . . that's how she was to remain spending the rest of her life she figured.

She sat up and felt a sharp stab of pain in her left arm and along her ribs She lowered her right arm to her side and felt thick bandages and pulled her hand away only to see that it was covered with a small amount of blood.

She laughed bitterly . . . she had escaped with a mere scratch and her parents were dead. Killed right in front of her. "How lovely . . . completely and utterly perfect," she spat out acridly. "I watch them as they're murdered before my very eyes and then the idiot turns on me and can't even kill me properly. Fan -bloody - tastic. I know how Harry must feel now."

Hermione crossed her arms harshly over her ribs and didn't even care about the pain it caused. In fact, she welcomed the pain.

She felt as though she deserved as much pain as possible. Considering she basically killed her parents in her mind.

'I hadn't gone home with them, I got caught in the pantry when I called the police, I trusted the bastard when I knew that he shouldn't be, I didn't even try to keep my parents alive when I had my stupid wand right there and could have prevented their deaths easily.'

'I had not done one single, stupid, bloody, thing right. I did absolutely every possible thing wrong. I didn't even try to protect them; I only cared about my damn self. I was being so selfish. As far as I'm concerned, I could very well have been party to my own parents' murders.'

'The last thing I said to my own mum was that I'd see her when I got home, after being totally rude to her because of her concern. I didn't even see or talk to dad.'

With herleft hand, she punched the nearest thing to her (the wall) and realized she had put a hole in it and looked at the blood forming on her knuckles where the skin had broken.

'I didn't even have a chance to say that I was sorry or that I loved them. I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.'

She finally took notice of the single solitary tear that slid down her cheek. She brushed it off with herleft hand and harshly laid it back on her ribs.

She felt satisfaction at the immense pain it caused.

However, that pain soon disappeared and was replaced by a soothing relief. Hermione frowned and felt for the bandage beneath the hospital gown and tore it off the bloodied gauze. She felt for any sign of an injury or blood, but found none. No cut, no scar, not even a slight scrape was present. She then took the bindings on her wrist off anxiously and quickly. She moved her wrist in circles. Not one ounce of pain, no bruising, nothing.

She scowled at the lack of injury, and tried to figure out what got rid of it. Just then, a nurse walked in. "You're awake!" she said in happy astonishment.

"Well, unless I'm dead or asleep . . . I should assume so," said Hermione tartly.

"Let me go get the doctor!" she said running out of the room hurriedly.

Less than a minute later, the nurse walked back in with a doctor. "Miss Granger, it's us," They said taking out their wands and whispering, "Finite Incantatum." This revealed Albus Dumbledore and Minerva Mc Gonagall; Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress/Transfiguration Teacherof Hogwarts respectively.

"My apologies Professors, but I am in no mood to be very nice right now," said Hermione politely.

"It is quite understandable Miss Granger," said Professor Mc Gonagall putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, quite understandable as you lost your parents just three days ago," agreed Dumbledore.

"I've been asleep for three days?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm afraid so. You see . . . you broke your wrist and were shot three times in the side before the police arrived. It is a miracle that you survived at all," Dumbledore said.

"Well I wish I weren't. I wish to God I was dead and my parents were still alive instead. I deserve that much at least for not killing those bastards when I could have," she said with dark conviction.

"Speaking of those men, could you possibly explain what happened to them? What did you do after you parents died? They were burnt something awfully, and they unfortunately did not die either," said Mc Gonagall tersely at the mention of the men who hurt her favourite student.

Hermione was silent for a moment trying to recall what had happened . . .

**Flashback**

_Hermione ran to her parents and, not caring about how dirty she would get from the blood, fell onto them and held them tightly as she began to yell frantically, "MUM, DAD! PLEASE DON'T DIE! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE LIKE THIS! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE! I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE COME BACK!" Tears of sorrow laced with tears of anger mingled with spots of blood on her cheeks in shiny streams as she confirmed that Anna and John Granger were indeed dead. She held them for a second longer and then let go and stood to face the man with the gun square on. She attempted to tackle him in her rage, but he threw her easily to the ground and she heard a sickening snap in her wrist as she landed on top of it. She yelped from the pain of the breaking of a bone in her wrist, but she quickly stood up again as he held his gun and readied himself to fire again, this time at her. _

A wave of fury swept over her and suddenly she felt herself levitating and a wave of scorching heat emanated from her and caused the men to scream in agony as the heat tore at their skin and burnt their flesh. "YOU SODDING BASTARDS!" she cried as another wave of heat, almost five times stronger this time, spread throughout the room and the three men in the room fell to the floor crying out in pain as their skin blistered from the immense amount of heat. Each feeling as though his flesh were literally on fire, and could almost accurately describe being burned alive.

Time seemed to slow momentarily as Hermione saw a haunting sight, she was surrounded by fire, and her hair was fanned out around her, but the most unusual thing was her eyes; her eyes glowed red, yellow, and orange like raging fire when she chanced a look into the full length mirror on the wall across the room. She felt a sense of fear, indifference, and peace wash over her as she looked into the eyes of her reflection, which looked nothing like the quiet little bookworm that everyone knew, and instantly felt the power draining from her. She felt suddenly very cold, almost like she was slowly being frozen to death. She felt as though everything in the world had suddenly just sped up and went back into normal time.

The next thing that she knew, she fell in a heap to the floor from pain and exhaustion, and the wave of heat subsiding, making the room feel like an arctic chill in a scorching desert, and everything went black as she saw the man with the gun stand and aim for her . . .

**End Flashback**

"Miss Granger?" Mc Gonagall pressed on.

Hermione shook herself from her stupor, "It . . . felt as though my blood were on fire. I was so furious with all of them. Then I levitated from the ground somehow, and was radiating heat waves. The whole room looked red . . . like it was melting. The first wave burnt them a little and they screamed. I was so mad that it hadn't caused them as much pain as they caused me, then another heat wave came, only it was more intense and they fell to the floor screaming, screaming because I was hurting them and their skin was blistering so badly. I felt guilty about causing so much pain and devastation even to murderers and thieves."

Hermione took a shuddering breath in and continued, "I looked at my reflection, but it didn't look like me at all. I was surrounded by fire, but it didn't hurt me, it was like the fire was my friend, or more like an extension of my body really. I was scared at first from looking at it. Then I felt indifferent, like who was I to be afraid of myself? And then I felt peaceful . . . almost happy . . . as I looked at it because I knew that it wouldn't hurt me and that I had tried to do something to help it. It was so eerie and haunting, like there was another person or being inside of me that I was looking at. The longer I looked at myself, the stranger I felt in my own body. My eyes were like fire. When I met my eyes, I felt like I wasn't meant to kill those men and so my energy was being slowly drained out of me almost like I had willed it to happen, because no matter how bad what they did was, they didn't deserve death on my account. My whole body went frigid. I felt so cold and alone. The whole room seemed almost blue and frozen because the heat was gone like hell had just turned into ice. Then the man with the gun stood and that was when I blacked out."

All was silent as what she just said sank in.

"It is as I have suspected," said Dumbledore at last as he and Mc Gonagall nodded to each other. Hermione jumped slightly at the unexpected breaking of the silence.

"What do you mean?" Hermione felt sure that she was missing something in relation to what was happening.

"Before I am completely sure of which theory I have is true, and tell you anything, I'd like to ask you a question. Has there been anything out of the ordinary that happened to you since you've woken up?" he asked eyeing the carelessly thrown strips of gauze on the floor.

"Well, I don't know how it happened exactly, but I was thinking about my parents. I punched the wall," she indicated the hole in the wall with a slight glance and continued, "Then I . . . wiped . . . a tear from my eye and the pain and injuries were gone," understanding was beginning to take its hold on her analytical mind.

"And you put that hand back on your injuries?"

"Yeah . . . I did," she said basically knowing what he was implying about her, but wanting confirmation of her conclusions.

"Your tears have healing properties. Your life was spared even an inch from death. Also, you demonstrate unnatural strength where you had none before, and controlled the elements of wind and fire in your anger and fear. Everyone knows of the first two, but few ever consider the others as knowledge that would be necessarily related. Some teachers and professionals that study magical and mythical creatures don't even know that a Phoenix, is the only creature that has those properties," confirming her theory.

"But how is it possible? And what was your other theory?" asked Hermione.

"Ah, yes . . . you were born this way, and only after you are angered enough to kill, does your power completely surface. The other theory was that you are an Elemental, a Double Elemental at that since you controlled both the fire and wind elements. They both show up in the same way, murderous animosity towards someone, it's just that a Phoenix has more stipulations afterwards and you have the healing tears of a Phoenix, so that instantly discounts the Elemental theory in it's entirety."

"So it's true then?" asked Hermione more as a rhetorical statement of confirmation meant solely for her to hear than as a question.

Mc Gonagall confirmed it for her even so, "Yes Miss Granger, you are indeed a Phoenix. . ."


	3. trial

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't own Harry Potter! So what? Can't I just borrow him and everyone else for a while? Okay Thanks :D !

Well, that last chapter was quite informative wasn't it? Oh, and by the way, just so that everyone knows, I'm making Hermione left handed and that's why she's doing everything with her left hand (not overly important, but I just thought I'd mention it.) Well, here is the next chapter as I promised! REVIEW, I won't continue if I don't get any!

Chapter 3 - Trial

"Miss Granger . . . I'm afraid that we really must be leaving now. Just be sure to take care of yourself and be prepared because they will probably ask that you testify in court. Oh, and if I were you, I would put those bandages back on because it would seem highly unusual for you to be completely healed already," said Dumbledore as they began to leave. Each muttered an incantation and turned into the nurse and doctor that Hermione had seen earlier.

Hermione put the bandages back on and sat in silence once more as they walked out the door and shut it. She was a Phoenix. A Phoenix in human form for the time being.

A few moments later, a police officer came into the room.

"Are you Hermione Granger?" asked the man.

"Who wants to know?" she asked skeptically.

"I'm the detective for the case of the murder of John and Anna Granger. Are you her?"

"Yes, the last time I checked."

"I'm detective Hughes with the Surrey Police Force."

Hermione held out her left hand, "Nice to meet you." He took her hand lightly to shake it seeing the injury.

"I see that your wounds are healing nicely."

"I'm a very fast healer, always have been sir. . . it still hurts though," said Hermione quickly catching a could-have-been mistake.

"I'm going to get straight to the point. Do you think that you'd be willing to testify in court?"

"I don't see why not," said Hermione.

"Okay. I will need as exact of an account of what happened as you can give me, and then we're going to get you a lawyer."

"Well . . .

. . . I drove into the driveway of my house and noticed a black jaguar car already in the driveway and that the telly wasn't on like it always is unless there's company. (nice transition huh?) So I walked into the house under the pretense that there was either a relative or a family friend there. Everything was dead quiet, so I figured something was wrong and walked to my mum and dad's bedroom. The door was left slightly open so I peeked through and saw a man holding my parents at gunpoint."

"And what did you do next Ms. Granger?" asked the lawyer.

"So I went to the kitchen, grabbed my dad's cell phone, hid in the pantry in the kitchen, then I called the police. They told me someone would be there immediately."

"So how was it that you ended up back in your parents' room again?"

"Well, two men had walked down the hall to my parents' room before I made the call, and one of them came back out at some point and caught me. He took me to my mum and dad's bedroom and showed the man with the gun the cell phone in my hand."

"Then what happened?" the lawyer pressed.

"He asked me if I called the police and I said no. He said that I had better not be lying or else he would kill the three of us, me, my mum and dad that is. I told him I wasn't lying even though I was, but I was doing it to try and save my parents. He told me that he would believe me because he was in a good mood and put his gun down and did something with it. I now know that he was taking off the safety lock even though I assumed he was putting the safety on. And he lied about not shooting my parents because he shot my dad twice and then he shot my mum once. I ran over to my parents and checked if they were alive or dead."

"How did you break your wrist Ms. Granger?" said the lawyer pointing to her left wrist.

"They were both dead and I got very angry so I tackled the man with the gun. He threw me on the ground and my wrist snapped and was, as I was told, severely broken. I guess that sent me into shock or something and then I blacked out and don't remember what happened after that."

"Thank you Ms. Granger. No further questions your honour," said her lawyer taking his seat.

The lawyer of the defendant stood and paced for a few seconds in front of her. "So, Ms. Granger . . . might I inquire about your other injuries?"

"Well, I remember that I woke up in the hospital three days later and being told that I'd been shot three times by one of the doctors."

"The doctor shot you three times?" asked the lawyer incredulously.

"No! He _told_ me I had been shot three times," said Hermione realizing that this conniving lawyer was going to try and manipulate her words to mean what he wanted them to.

"Okay, so you also said that you purposely lied about calling the police to my client. So how do we know that you aren't lying now?"

"Because I'm not, and isn't that question a little unreasonable? This is a court, one of the two of us _has_ to be lying," said Hermione sharply.

"But you said so yourself that you lied to save your parents. Why wouldn't you do the same for yourself?"

Hermione's lawyer stood abruptly, "I object your honour, he's badgering my client."

"Sustained," said the judge.

"You say you don't remember what happened after you broke your wrist. Is that correct?" he asked as he grabbed a piece of paper from his client.

"Yes that is correct."

"Well that's very interesting Ms. Granger because my client just gave me a description of what happened. You see, my client says that you rose into the air and the whole room went red from the fire that surrounded you, which you shot through the room. Two times, and both times, you burnt my client quite severely. You yelled, and I quote 'You sodding bastards.' How do you explain this Ms. Granger?"

Hermione chuckled lightly, "Sir, I don't mean to be rude, but there are two things that I have to say to that. Firstly, how do you know that _he_ wasn't lying, when _he_ himself lied to me? And secondly, that is not humanly possible for me to do as he said," said Hermione. "I'd also like to ask you a question. How is that relevant to this case sir? Even if it were possible, there really is no point in stating that."

Hermione's lawyer and the judge looked at the man smugly.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, reminding Hermione of a fish taken out of water for too long. "No further questions your honour," he said quickly in humiliation as he took his seat.

The judge nodded at the jury, who went into the side room.

Hermione sighed as the jury came out just five minutes later.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" asked the judge.

A woman with a stern looking face, reminiscent of Mc Gonagall, stood. "We have your honour. We the jury find the defendant . . . guilty of first degree murder and attempted murder."

The woman looked over to the judge as she sat down. "That being the case, the defendant, Jack Willis, will serve a twenty year sentence in high security prison with no chance of parole. Case dismissed."

"Jack got up and darted towards Hermione but was detainedby two security guards as they wrestled him to the floor and handcuffed him.

"You bitch!" he yelled, "I'm not finished with you! I have men all over town who're going to hunt you down and kill you! And if they can't find you by the time I get out, I will see to it that that task is complete myself!"

The guards walked him outside to the police car. He was yelling out to someone in the crowd, "Tommy, Vin, boys you got new orders! Hunt that bitch down and kill her at any cost! Don't stop looking for her until she's dead! Tell everyone else!"

When they reached the car, the guards shoved him in and slammed the door shut. They watched as several men fled from the scene.

Several guards walked up to Hermione hurriedly.

"Ms. Granger, we are going to need you to come with us please," they escorted her to a car outside, which took them to a run down looking building next to the Leaky Cauldron.

She stepped out of the car and they guided her into the unmarked building, which no one on street seemed to notice.

'Odd . . . I wonder if this is a Wizarding place' thought Hermione as the men led her though many halls until they came to a door that had a plaque bearing the letters 'WPP'.

One of the men knocked on the door twice and it opened, and they all walked in quickly and shut the door behind them.

"Miss Granger I presume?" said the man at the desk.

"Yes . . . what is going on here?"

"Ever since your parents told me about the gang harassing them we've had the three of you down."

"Down? Down for what?"

"Hermione, your parents weren't who you assumed them to be."

"I don't understand sir," she said politely confused.

"Well, that man that killed your parents, Jack, he was there boss. Your parents were part of a notorious magic/muggle gang called the 'Black Widows', they were really dentists, but only as a cover-up. Your parents were trying to get out of it for your sake. They've been in it since you were only a year old. The boss decided to start harassing them when he found out their true intentions. That's when they came to me, they applied the three of you under a protection program in case anything should happen."

"Am I going to be relocated?" asked Hermione not wanting to leave before her last year of school.

"No . . . in your parents' will, they say they wanted you to go with your closest relative under a new identity."

Hermione calmly asked, "And who is that relative? Because I don't know any."

"Your mother's brother . . . Severus Snape."

"Snape! I can't possibly be related to him! You must be joking!"

"No, not at all. Your mother also wrote that everything, except your school supplies, would be sold including the house, all clothes, even yours, and the cars . . . something about them not wanting you to be traceable. All the money would go to your account at Gringotts as well as all the money in their bank accounts outside Gringotts. So your total balance will arrive, if not today, then within the next few days," said the man behind the desk.

"Where am I supposed to stay until September? I can't very well be in my house since it's not going to be mine or safe for that matter! And what is my name going to be so that in 2 months I'll be used to it," she said trying to take all of the news in gracefully.

"Well, you will stay in the Leaky Cauldron and your school things will be brought by your uncle. You won't be allowed in London again until you go to school, or you could be killed. As for your name . . . you will be Phoenix Turoe. You will be from Dallas, Texas. You moved to Surrey when you were six and were adopted by the Grangers when your parents died in a tragic accident, but you kept your original last name. Then you were sent to the school in Phoenix, Arizona, since you did go there the year before Hogwarts and it's an easy cover for how you knew what you knew, and your good friends call you Dallas because of your accent and your birthplace. This will be so that you don't accidentally slip up somehow about your knowledge of Hermione. You will have to do what you can to change your appearance and accent."

"Well I guess that's all then?" asked Hermione not really knowing how to feel about the situation.

"Yes Miss Turoe. You are free to go to the Leaky Cauldron. The best of luck to you. Remember to cut off all ties with any friends as soon as possible because as far as we know, Hermione Granger is dead . . ."


	4. new beginnings

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (big surprise! not!)

Well, I thank all of you that have been reviewing! Please **keep** reviewing! This is a fore-warning that this is the girly shopping/spa trip kind of chapter . . . anyways, enjoy reading!

Chapter 4 - New Beginnings

Hermione walked into the Leaky Cauldron to be greeted by Tom, the bald, toothless, and kind old man whose sight was beginning to fade, that owned the place. "Hello, would you be Miss Turoe?"

"Yes, you can call me Phoenix," said Hermione in her best Texan accent.

"All right, let me show you to your room ," he said smiling kindly as he led her to a room on the second floor. He stopped at the end of the hallway and opened the door to reveal a modest looking room and bid her 'good day.'

Hermione walked over to the desk in search of some quills and parchment. She wanted to get these letters done with as soon as possible.

She sighed as she found none. She hurriedly ran down the stairs to find Tom.

"Is there something I can help you with Miss Phoenix?" he said upon seeing her.

"I need some parchment and quills if you could," she said politely.

"Of course! I'll be right back," he said disappearing off into the room behind the bar. A moment later, he emerged bringing with him a quill, ink, and five pieces of parchment, and gave them to her.

"Thank you very much," said Hermione giving a small smile as she turned and went back upstairs.

She sat at the desk with the quill hovering above the parchment. She really had no idea what to say.

'Well I suppose 'Dear Harry' is a good place to start.' She wrote just that and considered where to start.

Ten minutes later, she looked at what was written.

Dear Harry,

I'm just going to get straight to the point because it's too hard to come upon this topic by beating around the bush. I have to leave England and you can't come after me. I don't really have a choice in the matter either. I love you so much Harry. These years of being your friend has meant more to me than you'll ever know. I know I've never said that before, but that's how I feel. You were such a wonderful boyfriend too. I really must be going though. Goodbye forever.

Love,

Hermione

p.s. I'm very sorry about this, and I wish there was something, but there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

She then wrote similar letters to Ron, Ginny, Parvati, and Lavender. (minus the part about the boyfriend) After she sealed each letter, there was a knock on her door. With not a moment to spare, Severus Snape walked in with all of her school things and set them down.

"Thank you," said Hermione.

"It was nothing Miss . . ."

"Turoe," Hermione finished for him.

"Turoe. Well, I must be going, is there anything you'll be needing before I go?" he said formally.

"Yeah, there's two things. Firstly, how did I not know about you being my uncle?"

"Your mother was a squib . . . my mother threw her out of the house, ashamedofyour mother even though my own father was a muggle,that's why I've treated you the way I have because of mymother not allowing me to be tied to my sister in any way. She thought that even with my father's genes, she'd never have a non-magic child and felt having one would mean disaster for the family line. I'm sorry about that," he said uncomfortably.

"Okay, that' fine and the second thing, can you deliver these letters please? I don't want them to be traced" said Hermione holding up the five letters.

"Yes. Good day Miss Turoe," he said grabbing them and leaving.

Hermione could tell that she wasn't the only one who found things extremely awkward and uncomfortable between the two of them.

Hermione also knew that she needed to talk to Dumbledore. As if having heard her request, he apparated into the middle of the room.

"Ah, Miss Turoe, lovely to see you," he said with the familiar twinkle in his eye.

"Hello Headmaster," said Hermione standing up.

"I understand that you will be needing to change your appearance and learn how the Texan accent sounds?"

"Yes, I will. I will also need new clothes."

"Yes because spells only work for so long and you don't want to be wearing the same thing everyday, so you will need access to the muggle world. More specifically, muggle Texas. So I have a portkey that you will use from five o' clock to ten o'clock. The week before school, it will be nine thirty, and the day before to nine o' clock."

"Thank you so much Professor Dumbledore. But what am I supposed to do until then?" she said the second part more to herself.

"That I do not know. One thing I do suggest though is that you get a new wand."

"I will do that sometime this week."

"Here is your portkey. You can use it today. Just make sure by ten o' clock, you are in an unpopulated area." He handed her a pair of blue sunglasses with silver frames.

"Thank you," she said putting them on.

"Not a problem. And just so you know, all the teachers know what's going on. All right, I will be going now as it is ten after four, and you need to get your money." Dumbledore apparated out of the room.

Hermione quickly made her way to Gringotts after grabbing her key. She made it there in seven minutes.

"I need to make a withdrawal and exchange," she said placing her key on the desk.

"This way please," said the goblin leading her to the tunnels.

After a couple of minutes the goblin said, "Vault 313, lamp please."

Hermione handed him the lamp and stepped out of the little wagon after him.

"Key please," he said handing he the lamp in return for the key and opened the door.

Hermione was shocked to find only a very small space left for walking. The rest of the vault was filled full of galleons, sickles, and some scant amounts of knuts. She grabbed a handful of the galleons and put them into her pocket. Then she stepped out and the goblin closed the door.

They were back above ground and Hermione had her money exchanged for American dollars.

"1,250 dollars, and here is your key back." Hermione pocketed the key and money and went outside. She looked at her watch and saw that she had five minutes left, so she put her money in the wallet that was in her purse.

The next thing she felt was the familiar pull in her stomach and the dizzying sensation of portkey travel.

Hermione walked into a salon and saw that the woman she had talked to on the street was correct, this place was really nice.

One of the employees walked up with a snooty air about her looking as though Hermione were unworthy to tread the ground they both stood on, and said in a ratherarrogant tone, "May I help you Miss?"

Hermionesaid ina voice that clearly stated she wasn't about to take this woman's crap, "Yes, there is a lot of stuff that I need. I would like to have my hair highlighted and straightened. I need an eyebrow wax, and a manicure and pedicure. That will be all for today. I plan to come back if I like what I see."

The clerk's demeanour immediately changed upon hearing Hermione's response, "Of course! Right this way, there is an open slot for hair right now. Follow me."

Hermione was led to a chair and the employee left to get a hair stylist.

A man came out moments later and said, "Okay what do you want me to do for you?"

"I want my hair highlighted with blonde and red. Then I want my hair straightened."

"All right, let's get started," he said and brought out all of the hair supplies.

An hour later, Hermione was having her hair straightened out, and people had begun her manicure, pedicure, and wax.

She was feeling so crowded in and didn't like this much pampering, but knew that she didn't want or have time to waste on each one of them separately and knew she needed to look and act different. So she dealt with the men and women fussing over her.

Two hours after walking into the salon, she left $200 poorer, and Hermione Granger was no longer just pretty or cute little Hermione Granger . . . her new looks just screamed fiery Phoenix, and there was no other word to describe this girl but gorgeous.

Now she needed some new clothes; not the kind of clothes she normally wore, because that would give her away too easily, but the kind of clothes she would never dare to look at while she was in stores. She could now get the kind of clothes that she'd always avoided and seh was going to have to learn to get used to them because she could not chanceallowing herself to get caught.

She walked across the street and down to a mall she'd seen along the way to the salon. As she walked into the mall, she felt a burning sensation on her back. She slowed and looked around and saw nothing unusual so she walked to the nearest clothing store.

She browsed through the shirts first and grabbed eight shirts after looking at the limit on the dressing room door. As she grabbed them, she felt as though something was etching itself all over her back in place of the burning she had felt originally.

Hermione stepped in and all but ripped her shirt off and immediately felt a cool relief as the air hit her nearly bare milky white back.

She held her hair out of the way and looked at her reflection letting out a gasp as she saw it.

A Phoenix.

Not a small Phoenix either, it was the outline of a Phoenix surrounded by flames covering her entire back. It was both enchanting and beautiful in all of its intricate detail.

She'd always wanted a tattoo, but was afraid of what her parents might say. Now she had one, and her parents weren't exactly alive to reprimand her for it, she couldn't help but run her finger along the lines to see if it was real.

She felt a slight sting at the feel of her flesh under the pad of her finger.

She wasted no more time and pulled on the first shirt. It was a backless, teal, triangle shirt with ties on the neck and mid-back to hold it up.

It complemented everything about her perfectly, and she had to admit that it was a nice color. She took it off and put it back on the hanger and put the garment on the hook to the far left, which meant she was going to get it.

She went through the eight and decided to get three of them. She gave the three to the clerk to hold for her while she looked for more.

Hermione was always fascinated with the new Phoenix tattoo (which looked the same color as a henna tattoo) that had burnt itself there without even the slightest sign that her inner fire had engraved it there.

She also found it amusing and somewhat irritating that she couldn't cover up the Phoenix more than about half way or the burning sensation would come back and the Phoenix would make a light cry and glow and squirm about on her back tickling Hermione to her very core making a very oxymoronic feeling between the burning and tickling sensations.

After scouring the store for the best deals, Hermione left the store with eight shirts, six pairs of pants, and two skirts in bags. And after consulting the clerk, she was allowed to wear the ninth outfit (the teal shirt and a pair of shiny, silver, hip hugger, boot cut bell bottoms -if you saw the Christmas episode of Lizzie McGuire, and remember the pants she wore in the Aaron Carter video, it's just like those-) out of the store after the purchase. She smirked to herself as something dawned on her . . . how very . . . Slytherin of her to wear this outfit.

With just two hours left, Hermione decided she would buy three or four pairs of shoes. She walked to the escalator and went to the second level, which was where the Payless shoe store was. (hopefully everyone has heard of Payless shoes)

She walked in and immediately saw a pair of black and charcoal gray, knee-high, patch-style, high-heeled boots and she knew that she had to get those. She found a pair of size seven and a half shoes to try on because she knew that to buy a pair of heels a half size bigger than one's actual shoe size would save their feet from the agony of feeling pinched and sore and getting blisters that bled after a while (I had that happen once . . . very painful.)

'Perfect fit,' she thought to herself as she put the shoes back in the box. 'Now for some other shoes.'

She finally left with three pairs of shoes in bags and was wearing the black and charcoal gray ones out.

Hermione was in the food court with only half an hour left when she decided what to do next.

She could see the store was nearby so she went to it and a lady with many piercings was at the counter. The lady looked at her skeptically, and then said, "May I help you?"

"I'd like to get my ears and bellybutton pierced please."

"All right, come with me."

Hermione followed the lady who led her to the bellybutton and ear rings and told her to pick what she wanted. She decided on a bellybutton silver ring with a silver Phoenix charm and silver studs for her ears.

Before she knew it, she was pierced and paying the cashier.

She saw that there was only two minutes left and ran to the nearest bathroom and quickly went into a stall only to feel the familiar tugging indicating the portkey was active.

The rest of Hermione's summer at Texas was spent mostly at the spa tanning and getting her hair fixed. She also spent a good deal of time training her body with yoga, kickboxing, and gymnastics (which she'd been doing since she was younger when her parents said she needed to be prepared for anything that might happen to her.) She also got four pairs of blue-violet coloured contacts. She also got a lot more clothes, including for fall and winter becausethey were obviouslydrawing closer than spring (the Phoenix on her back had finally calmed down and didn't complain as much as it did at first because it was finally used to Hermione.)

As school drew nearer, Hermione got all of her school supplies and new wand. As school got even closer, Hermione made a decision that she would need to start over and have a clean slate in regards to Hogwarts and not hold strong judgments towards anyone if she could help it, until she was completely re-introduced to them.

And so her summer went.

A/N: I want at least 5 more reviews please, or I won't continue on.


	5. hogwarts express

Disclaimer: Honestly! If I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't be publishing it for free! I'd be in a lovely home with my multi millions and writing thesevemth book already. And most of the stuff that I am describing about Phoenixes I get from Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them. Some of the other stuff I have heard or read from other sources.

Well, that last chapter was a little bit dull no? I promise that that is the last major shopping chapter in the whole story. Well, I must say, I'm pleased with all of you who have been reviewing my story! Okay, now I want more reviews! Well, please read and enjoy.

Chapter 5 - Hogwarts Express

Hermione walked through King's Cross Station. She was running a bit late seeing as she had to find a safe way to the station.

She saw many people from Hogwarts all making their way to Platform 9 3/4 , Malfoy was also amongst the people making their way to the train.

'Oh perfect! Malfoy!' Hermione thought disgustedly as she eyed him in dislike.

Hermione quickened her pace towards the train.

OooOooOooOooOooO

'Who is that? I've never seen anyone so gorgeous before!' Draco Malfoy thought as he eyed the girl rushing past.

She wore white hip huggers and a tan backless shirt revealing what looked to be a henna tattoo of a fiery bird. . . a phoenix he assumed. To complete the look, she was wearing tan high heels, a white cowboy hat, and hoop earrings. She looked about 167 centimeters tall (I think that is 5 foot 6 inches in non-metric measure) with the heels. She was slightly muscular and had a great body at that. She looked really tan and had shoulder length brown hair, with red and blonde highlights, that was slightly layered and slightly flipped outward giving her a very American look. She was lugging magical things on her trolley towards the platform, so he figured she was a witch bound for Hogwarts.

He caught up to her and said, "Would you like some help with that?"

The girl stopped and turned to him and he saw that she had the most unusual blue-violet eyes. She looked at him with mistrust.

"No thanks," she said curtly in an American accent, Southern at that.

"Are you sure?" he pressed.

"Quite sure, now if you'll excuse me," she said agitated as she resumed walking.

She pushed the cart into Platform 93/4 and he followed immediately after her.

OooOooOooOooOooO

Hermione was beginning to get annoyed with Malfoy as he constantly followed after her around like a love-sick puppy.

"My name is Draco. What's yours?"

Hermione breathed out in a huff. She turned to him, eyes flashing, "I know who you are. And my name ain't important. What is important is that you stop bothering me cause I'm getting real irritated with you. And trust me, that ain't a good thing." Hermione noticed four people come up behind Malfoy.

"Can't you just leave people alone Malfoy? It's obvious that she doesn't like you, so can you like sod off or something?" said a voice Hermione recognized as none other than her old best friend Ron Weasley.

"You know what Weasel? You shouldn't butt in because it's obvious she's pretty disgusted with you too!" he said seeing Hermione's look of disgust.

Ron looked at her and noted her hateful gaze which was directed not at him or Lavender, and not at Malfoy, but at Harry and his girlfriend of the week, Parvati Patil. Ron smirked at Malfoy. "Oh, does the amazing albino ferret boy need glasses? Cause if you'll notice, she's not looking at me either."

Malfoy stalked off muttering colorful little phrases and obscenities under his breath.

Harry looked at Hermione, having taken the hint and seeing that the girl in question seemed to be glaring daggers at Parvati and him.

Ron cleared his throat and said, "Oh, by the way I'm Ron Weasley and this is my good friend-"

"Lavender Brown. I know, Hermione told me all about you two being really good friends since sixth year. . . even though everyone thinks you two are an item. You are Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived, Hermione's old boyfriend," Hermione waved her hands in mock praise at the stupid nick-name. "And this must be Hermione's other old room mate Parvati Patil right?" They all nodded dumbly.

"You know Hermione?" asked Ron in astonishment.

"Of course I know her; she and I were best friends!"

"_Were_?" asked Harry skeptically.

"Yes, _were_, you moronic infidel, do you want me to spell it out for you! She died nearly two months ago in the United States! She only had me send you guys those letters after much begging saying that she needed to give you a reason for her disappearance when she only died two hours later . . . she thought that you were her friend and didn't want me to tell you what was really going on because she didn't want you hurt! But obviously you took that as leave to just go and get yourself a new girlfriend pretty quick. . . mighty impressive Potter," she said the last part to herself spitefully.

"Dead? You've got to be joking! She only said she was leaving and never going to come back! Hermione would never lie about that kind of thing!" said Harry as though that were proof enough against her word and that he was indeed free of Hermione and perfectly okay to move on.

"Hello, you idiot, it's called tryin to be sensitive and honoring her last wishes on her death bed, but I guess you couldn't wait to get with Parvati am I right? Learn to read between the lines you moron! Whad'ya want a death certificate? Or maybe a description of what happened? Okay, well she was shot three times and was too damn proud to tell you that she wasn't even strong enough to survive! Bastard!" she yelled as she slapped him hard. Then she ran onto the train.

As the four remaining on the platform got on the train after her, intending on confronting her once they found her, the whistle blew and they were leaving for Hogwarts.

OooOooOooOooOooO

Hermione slammed the door of the first compartment closed behind her. Then she saw who was in there. 'Not again!' she shouted in her mind.

She was just opening the door as a voice said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. They're going to be looking for you to ask you about Granger."

Hermione sighed in defeat and punched the wall as hard as she could, which put a hole in it, which only showed an empty closet on the other side. "DAMN IT!" she yelled as she saw the blood coming from her knuckles. She could feel her eyes beginning to tear up from the recent change of events and the slight sting of her open knuckles.

Draco got up and put a hand on her shoulder trying to get her to turn around so he could give her a handkerchief to wrap around her knuckles.

Although, his hand didn't stay there for very long because she immediately grabbed his hand and pushed him aside. He cried out in pain as he felt the flesh of his hand burning where she had grabbed.

"Oh, I didn't mean to do that! I'm sorry I burnt you," she said taking his hand in hers to examine the damage she'd caused as a single tear fell to his hand.

"It's fine. . . wait did you just say? That you burnt me?" he asked incredulously not even noticing the burn was gone.

"When I'm angry or scared. . . it just happens and I can't control it that well. Just like I can't control my tears. . . see?" she said indicating his hand. Then she wiped her eyes with her injured hand and took the proffered kerchief to clean the blood off her face.

"Do you know what this means? No one could do that kind of stuff unless they are a-"

"Phoenix? Yeah well thanks for the reminder," she said sarcastically.

"I don't think you're a freak or anything like that. . . I just meant that it's cool that you're a phoenix. I've never met one still in human form before. . . all the ones I met were already transformed into the bird form," he said in admiration.

"Don't you dare do that! Don't you dare start looking at me like everyone looks at Harry -bloody - Potter. I'm not some freak show to be admired and stared and gawked at. And I really don't appreciate it at all. Now if you'll excuse me; I'm going to explore the train and don't come after me unless you like the burnt and blistered look," Hermione said indignantly opening the door and walking out into the train corridor.

She just walked to the end of the train and went outside to get fresh air. The wind hit her face and whipped her hair about wildly. She took off her hat feeling that it would fly off at any given moment.

OooOooOooOooOooO

The country side passed by in a blur of colors. The cool air stung against her cheeks but she liked the feeling of complete and total peace. Finally, she could be alone without bother.

She leaned over the railing, staring absently at the caboose and thinking about things.

'I can't believe it . . . after a really horrible summer, it only gets worse for me. My enemy is hitting on me because I look 'hot' by most guys standards . . . God how degrading to be called or thought of as 'hot' . . . I'd assume I would have been used to it by now with all those jerks in Dallas, but I guess not. Wait . . . I'm supposed to be giving him another chance like I'd promised myself! But then there's Harry and Parvati . . . those damn traitors!' Hermione laughed bitterly as she thought of the fact that she'd burnt him when she slapped him, she was sure of it. 'At least Ron and Lavender are still the same. God, why did this have to happen to me? I can't possibly start over in my last year of school, it's impossible. It's just not fair.'

At that moment the door slid open revealing Lavender Brown and Ron & Ginny Weasley.

"Excuse us, but we just wanted to apologize for what happened. We know how much it hurts . . ." said Lavender.

Hermione sighed and said as calmly as she could, "Do you really? You think you know how I feel? That's almost laughable. Hermione was like family to me. I was adopted by her parents when I was only six. Hermione and I grew up together. Then we received our school letters. Hermione got one from one from my school, and I got one from my school, which was in Phoenix, Arizona. That was a year before she received her Hogwarts letter, but Dumbledore came to explain to Hermione that she had a choice in starting school later and staying with her parents or going to school in America. She went to Arizona for the year on a trial basis, but didn't like it. The following summer she got the Hogwarts letter. To this day, I still don't know why I didn't get a letter from Hogwarts and Hermione got one from each, but that's beside the point. Hermione didn't want to leave her parents and I didn't want to be separated from Hermione, but that was the way things happened. As I got used the idea, I didn't mind as much, but I still didn't like the idea of leaving Hermione because I really don't take too well to many people so I don't make friends easily. But I think that you found that quite obvious. But that school was perhaps the best school I could ever have heard of. It is a prestigious all girls school that has an accelerated learning program. During school Hermione and I wrote to each other constantly . . . though you wouldn't know it because we sent the letters constantly through our parents. I graduated from there last year and so I was going to come here this year so I could go to school with Hermione. As you can already tell though, we're not going to go to school together. I'm falling off track though; fast-forward to this summer, all the Grangers are killed by gun shot. Her dad was shot twice, her mom once, and Hermione had a broken wrist from the guy who killed her and was shot three times and she survived for a while. She was shot very near the lung and the other two shots weren't near any vital organs. She died that night and when I visited her in the hospital, she told me to write all of you and say that she was just going to leave and not come back because she thought that would be the least painful for you guys."

Hermione took a shaky breath, "But I knew, and this is far worse to have to rectify what she told you. I don't know if anyone could understand how painful it is to lose the only family you have all in one day and then being told to lie to your sister's best friends because it would be less painful for them. Not to mention the fact that it kills me to see that Potter didn't even give her memory decent time to pass and mourn her loss. Hermione loved him . . . true it wasn't the romantic kind of love, but she really did love him and wanted to be happy. But the reason I'm mad about that is because Potter doesn't even care, he lied to her, he lied to everyone that believed that he was in love with her. That's just like slapping her in the face when she's already dead and it makes me so angry that she was being lied to for all of her life even by her parents. Of course, so was I . . ."

"I'm sorry we didn't know. Hermione never told us about you. I would never want to imagine my whole family dying either," said Ginny sympathetically.

"I told her not to talk about me because I didn't want her to have to think of me instead of focusing on school."

"Oh. We never did find out your name," Ron said suddenly after a long moment of silence.

"Oh. . . well my name is Phoenix, Phoenix Turoe, but folks back in Phoenix call me Dallas cause that's where I'm originally from and people always said I sounded like I was from Texas anyway, more specifically Dallas," said Hermione.

"Nice to finally be introduced. I'm assuming you already know Ginny."

"You assume correctly."

Ginny looked at Hermione, and then looked as though she had just suddenly remembered something and smiled mischievously at her, "By the way. . . do you know how that _lovely_ burn came to be on Harry's face?"

Hermione sheepishly replied, "That was an accident. . . well not really, he deserved it, but I did that. It just happens sometimes when I'm really scared or pissed off."

"How on earth do you do that?" asked Ron befuddled.

"My name should give you some clue as to how that works, but I'm afraid I must be going, and please don't tell anyone about anything that I've just told you, including my name and especially that I caused that burn, in fact, just don't mention that you ever talked to me . . . or saw me please," she said walking back into the train.

She saw Harry walking in her direction distractedly checking the compartments so she quickly ran into the compartment next to her.

Ron, Ginny and Lavender walked back in and Harry stopped by the door, which Hermione expected to open very soon, and it did. Hermione didn't notice though that as she heard the door open she disappeared and reappeared right outside of the now closed door.

'Oh my God, what just happened?' she thought. 'Oh that's right, Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them mentioned that Phoenixes can disappear and reappear anywhere at will.'

She pressed herself up to the wall (in case the door opened without warning) to listen in on the conversation the four of them were having. She could hear someone pacing briskly and irritatedly, 'Probably Harry - wait no, not Harry - Potter.'

"Have you guys seen her since she got on the train?"

"No, we haven't Harry," said all three in agitated unison.

"Seriously, what a bitch. She comes here like she owns the place, and slapped me because I'm going out with Parvati. Hermione's the one that left me, and I was crushed, but I had to move on. Not only that but she's dead, am I not allowed to on or something? I mean, what the hell is her problem? I didn't do anything to her."

"Come on Harry, how would you react in the same situation?" asked Lavender trying to calm him down.

"Well I wouldn't bitch slap myself over someone that's for sure. I mean she reacts as though it hurt her more than it hurt me when Hermione just left me without warning! Does she think that it didn't hurt because my girlfriend broke things off with me in a letter because she had to leave? Why wouldn't she have told me before hand? She was the one stable thing in my life! True, we didn't love each other, but that doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things!"

"Maybe it hurts her, more deeply than you realize that Hermione is dead. We don't know exactly how close they were. . . for all we know, they could have been like family, just like you and I are and the three of us _were_. I mean, how much did we really know about Hermione's life outside of school?"

"That doesn't justify it even if that little theory is true Ron. Look at what happened to my face! What did she do?" asked Harry in outrage.

"Well, it looks like a burn Harry, so you tell us," said Ginny huffily.

"I know that Ginny, but how did my face get burnt like this? What did she do to my face?"

"How do you expect us to know Harry?" Lavender asked as she and Ginny hastily slammed opened the door and stalked off down the corridor.

Hermione disappeared and reappeared in the same spot just in time. The door slammed shut as quickly as it had opened.

"Women!" said Harry jokingly to Ron.

"Harry why don't you lay off of that girl for now? Gin and Lav got pretty mad that you kept picking on her and I don't like seeing those two mad. You know that. And besides, I don't want to keep talking about her when we don't even know her."

"Gee, Ron that's really noble of you," said Harry sarcastically, but seeing the serious look Ron gave him added, "All right! I'll lay off for now. . . but if she does anything else I swear -"

"Harry!" Ron cut him impatiently.

"Fine I'll lay off Ron. Let's go now," said Harry defensively.

"All right," said Ron as they opened the door.

Hermione disappeared and reappeared next the compartment she went in the first time and gave out the sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding in. 'God, when did Harry become such a prick?' She sighed and opened the door. 'It's sad that I'm willing to put up with Malfoy over Har - no - Potter,' she thought to herself.

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She stepped into the compartment and saw that Malfoy was reading and he was wearing - glasses?

'He's kind of cute with glasses. . . wait what? Where the hell did that come from? I hope that isn't the Phoenix in me. . . or I'm screwed,' Hermione thought to herself.

His eyes were on her as she walked in.

"So it seems that Ron Weasley was right for once. . ." she began with a smirk, "You did need glasses."

Malfoy blushed slightly and said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. . . so what? I wear glasses. . . it's not like there's something wrong with it is there? I only wear them for reading, usually I wear contacts, but my eyes were too sore today. And besides, look at Harry-bloody-Potter-the-boy-who-lived-to-be-a-royal-pain-in-my-ass. . . he wears glasses," he ranted.

Hermione flinched at the mention of Potter. "Please don't say that name, to me that's the same as me saying _Voldemort_ to you," she said satisfied with the very slight flinch he gave, and then continued, "Look, I never said anything bad about you wearing glasses. I don't know why I'm about to say this, but in all honesty I think it looks kind of. . . cute."

"Not hot?" he asked.

"No. . . I think it's degrading to call a person hot," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Really. . ."

"No shit Sherlock, I just said so. . ." she replied flatly.

"No, that's not what I meant. . . I was just thinking that it's funny because that's exactly how I feel. It's insulting to call or be called hot; it's like treating someone like property or a piece of meat."

"It's odd how much you and I are alike in some ways. I never expected that."

"What, from the heartless, arrogant, Slytherin ferret? I'm assuming Granger told you about that incident?"

"Yeah, I know everyone in the school however well Hermione knew them, and I know everything that happened that Hermione knew about."

"You might be surprised then to find out that you already know more about me now than anyone else does."

"Seriously? Why do you hide your real self from everyone? Cause from what I know now, you seem relatively human."

"Well I don't like other people to know me for a few reasons; one, I would lose my reputation. Two, there's no one I would consider wanting to tell. And three, you don't know who you can trust anymore when you've grown up as I have.

Hermione was caught off guard by that. "So are you saying that you trust me?" he nodded, "But why? You don't even know me!"

"Whether you know it or not, you would know or admit it, you trust me enough to tell me about you, even when you already had an impression about me before we met. No one I know has ever trusted me that much. . . so I figure you deserve the same level of trust."

"You're a very honorable person then. That's surprising."

"Yes, unlike my parents I am very bound to my honor. I'm not as shallow as everyone assumes."

"I can see that. It's funny, but you're the last person I expected to have a pleasant conversation with and yet. . . here I am. . ." said Hermione looking him in the eye to judge his sincerity. But those misty gray eyes were very hard to read.

"I can't say I agree with that sentiment, but that's just because I didn't know you before."

"Yeah. . ." there was an uncomfortable silence in the air then she looked at her watch, "Don't you have a prefect meeting to go to right now or something?"

Draco looked at his watch too, "Oh, yeah I totally forgot about that!" With that he left.

'If only you knew who I truly was you wouldn't be talking to me like you have been, you'd hate me just as much as you always have. . .' she thought.

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A/N: REVIEW! I won't update unless I get some!


	6. resorting

Disclaimer: As you probably already know, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the related things to Harry Potter except the plot and any of the original characters in the story.

Well, another chapter done! Thank you to all of my reviewers! You guys are the greatest! Some more reviews after this (preferably 5 or more) and I'm happy. Well, please read and review.

Chapter 6 - Resorting

Hermione sat in silence for most of the rest of the train ride. She was reading the book that Malfoy had left in there; a book about philosophy.

'I forgot he was the top guy of our year . . . Iconstantly focused on what a stupid git he always was,' Hermione thought as she flipped through the book.

She saw a part with notes written on the margins and underlining of the texts. (note: underlined parts are supposed to indicate the actual book text, only italicized are supposed to be Draco's own words)

_Do we really feel pain or do we only think we do? And if so, how do we stop our minds from registering what we think pain is? How can we stop the pain from happening? How do we decide what pain is?_

Hermione looked up for a second to see if the train was near Hogsmeade Station. 'Still a good hour for that! Just read already!' her mind shouted at her.

She looked back to the second set of underlined text.

_Is the reason we feel pain because we think we are supposed to? If we are hurt do you only feel something because we know we are supposed to? Does that mean that pain only exists in our minds?_

Hermione's breath stopped for a second. 'Why would he have all of this underlined? This is like a psychotic view into the world of pain . . . why would he want to read this? Then her eyes grew wider and wider with eachline she read.

_So is this saying that if I don't believe in the pain that being beat and cutting myself won't hurt? If so, will I feel mental pain from either of them? Will I feel the pain from neglect and detachment? If I think of it as just another occurrence does that mean the pain will stop?_

'Is this something that's going on in Malfoy's life? Or does he just have a strangely deep thought process about this particular topic? I have to quit calling him Malfoy!' she scolded herself.

Hermione heard footsteps just outside the door, and then it opened quickly to reveal Draco.

"I see you're reading my book," he observed.

"Yeah. I must say this is an interesting choice for reading material," Hermione stated as she shut the heavy volume.

"It is, but it keeps me entertained," Draco said as he took the book and sat next to her and opened to a part in the middle and started writing and underlining.

"What are you doing Draco?" asked Hermione.

"What's that? Oh, the book . . . I'm underlining parts and writing my thoughts on them in the different sections that I read a lot," he said absently.

"Oh . . . got it."

They sat in silence all the way to Hogsmeade station, neither really wanting to talk. Each was deeply absorbed in their own thoughts . . . both contemplating the other.

When they reached the station, Hermione exited the train quietly. Draco followed and glared at all the boys who dared to chance a look at her.

The two stepped into a 'horseless' carriage and soon were bound for school.

"Hey Draco?" he looked up at her, "Who are the Head Boy and Head Girl this year?"

"Well, they were going to be Potter and Granger -"

"Please don't call her that," said Hermione quietly cutting him off.

"Sorry, but as you know she can't exactly fill that position any more, so it was appointed to Padma Patil in her stead. And they appointed me as Head Boy at the last minute for some reason involving Potter being emotionally unstable about . . . Hermione's death."

"Congratulations for making Head Boy," Hermione said very much relieved about the last minute switch.

"Thanks," he said. An awkward silence came over them. "So . . . what is your name? I've just realized that in the time we're known each other, I haven't once heard your name."

"Oh . . . yeah, I forgot about that!" Hermione exclaimed. "My name is Phoenix. But folks back in Phoenix, Arizona called me Dallas."

"Phoenix . . . it suits you well."

"Yeah obviously." Hermione looked out the window and finally realized that the carriages were not horseless as many had believed, but they were drawn by bat - like, winged, black horses. 'Thestrals . . . I remember those,' she thought to herself remembering how in their fifth year, Potter claimed there really were'horses' drawing carriages, then their riding them to the Ministry of Magic in that same year.

"So would you rather I call you Dallas or Phoenix?" Draco said trying to catch her attention.

"Huh? Oh! Whichever you prefer, I don't worry about it, I answer to either. Shoot, I sometimes answer to Hermione just because the two of us were so tight," Hermione said wistfully.

"How did you know Granger - err . . . Hermione, Phoenix?" Draco asked quickly fixing his mistake.

"To make a long story extremely short . . . I'm Hermione's adopted sister. We went to America for school a year before Hogwarts, me because it was the only school that sent a letter; Hermione didn't like it there because even though it was an all girls school with an accelerated program,it wastoo far from home; so she went to Hogwarts the following year. I stayed though and graduated last year and was going to go to school with Hermione this year, then she died . . . but I'm still going obviously," Hermione concluded shortly.

"Wow . . . so is that were Hermione learned everything? I always wondered why she knew so much of this stuff."

"You mean considering she's Muggleborn?" countered Hermione.

"No, that's not at all what I meant . . . true there is her heritage, but I always wondered how a witch of her caliber ended up in Hogwarts and how she always knew everything like at least a year in advance. To tell you the truth, the only reason I tortured her throughout the years was because I was insanely jealous of her, and my father wouldn't accept that a Muggleborn could be smarter than a Pureblood, especially me."

"I see . . ." said Hermione contemplatively.

Another silence fell between them. When Draco could see the school he said, "Are you excited about going to Hogwarts?"

"Yes. I always wanted to go here and meet all the teachers and Headmaster Dumbledore. Hermione spoke so highly of them, and I thought the teachers and Headmistress from the school in Arizona were really stiff and arrogant. Don't get me wrong, I liked them all right, it's just that I liked the way Hogwarts sounded much better."

"What house do you want to be in?"

"Excuse me?"questioned Hermione.

"Well, you have to be sorted into a house. You can't just automatically fill in Hermione's place, since you aren't Hermione. Naturally you have to go through the sorting ceremony like every other student," heinterjected pointedly.

"Oh! Well, I guess Ravenclaw or Slytherin would be nice. Anything but _Gryffindor_," Hermione spat the last word out as though it were poison.

"You'd make either house proud if you're anything like you sister. I personally hope you're in Slytherin, but if you're in Ravenclaw, that's cool too," said Draco sincerely.

"Thanks."

"So what classes are you taking?" asked Draco as the carriage came to a halt.

"Well I'm taking Advanced Potions, Advanced Transfiguration, Advanced Herbology, Advanced History of Magic, Advanced Astronomy, Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy Level 5, and Study of Ancient Runes Level 5," said Hermione ticking the list off on her fingers.

"That's ironic . . . I have the exact same classes, and since they only offer one class per advanced subject, we'll have all the same classes. And did you realize that only two people can make it into the Level 5 classes per year?" Draco said excitedly.

"I didn't know that. So I guess you're obviously the other person? At least it would seem as such since you just basically impied so."

He nodded his head in agreement. Both of them then stepped out of the carriage and went up to the front steps where they saw Dumbledore waiting for them. "Ah, Mr. Malfoy, I trust you are doing everything in your power to make Miss Turoe feel welcome?" he said with the usual twinkle in his eye. "Miss Turoe, if you don't mind, I need to speak with you."

"Yes, sir I am doing what I can," said Draco. "See you later Phoenix."

"Bye Draco," Hermione said and turned back to Dumbledore. "Sir, you wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes. First and foremost, this is a warning to control your anger . . . now I know that Phoenixes happen to get extremely angry very easily . . . as is evidenced by Mr. Potter's face and that lovely little hole in the train wall. Secondly, you will need to be resorted as I am sure you already know. Third, you must put behind all things of the past bonds and start over fresh, meaning don't go to people you knew, let them come to you if they want to be friends, which I see you are doing quite well without my saying so. Fourthly, do not do anything that will give away your true identity, meaning no more S. P. E. W. and no more going to the kitchen for snacks and visiting the house elves late at night. And most definitely, you have to act as though you have no knowledge of where things are. And lastly, if there is anything anyone can do to make you more comfortable you can either talk to me, your uncle, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Miss Patil, or Mister Malfoy as they have all been filled in that you are to be taken care of if you need something. Usually we wouldn't do such things, but you are a very special case and we want to make this transition period as easy for you as possible. All right, now I will announce you, after the first years are sorted, to be resorted. So you may sit wherever you want for the time being, or just hang out in the back of the Great Hall until then. Welcome back."

Hermione went inside with Dumbledore and just before they entered the Great Hall he said, "By the way, you are doing remarkably well acting as though you are not Hermione but her sister. I couldn't have done better myself." With that said, they entered the Great Hall and went their separate ways.

Hermione stood by the door thinking about what house she really wanted to be in. So she did as only Hermione would do . . . analyze the pros and cons of each house.

'Slytherin would mean I get to know Draco better, but I might lose Ron, Lavender, and Ginny. In Ravenclaw I can be friends with all of them. But Padma is Head Girl and she reminds me too much of Parvati . . . but what do I care? I hate Potter and I have no reason to hate those two, it's not like they did anything. No one will really like me too much though if I'm in Slytherin. I really want to remain friends with Ron, Ginny and Lavender. Though I really also don't want any trouble with Snape . . . wait Snape is my uncle and he's trying to help me so there shouldn't be too many problems there.'

Hermione remained in deep thought for the whole sorting ceremony. She then noted that Dumbledore was motioning for her to come up as the last first year sat down at the Hufflepuff table. So she went all the way to the bottom of the steps dividing the teacher's table and the sorting hat from the rest of the students.

"I would like to introduce you to someone, but first, a moment of silence." He nodded at her and she approached the front and turned to face everyone, and the moment ended, "As you may or may not know . . . Hermione Granger and her parents were all murdered over the summer holiday. We have been able to find her adopted sister and get her back to England to take an extra year at Hogwarts. This is Phoenix Turoe. I expect you all to welcome her and treat her well . . . she has suffered many great losses and I want to make her as comfortable as possible. Now, we will let her be sorted and the feast will start."

Hermione sat on the stool and the sorting hat was placed on her head. She had the same silent debate in her head with the hat as she just had with herself. 'It seems you have already made your decision then. Very well,' the voice of the sorting hat said to her softly.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the sorting hat.

Hermione proceeded to the Ravenclaw table with the polite applause from other houses and cheers from her new house and sat down for the beginning of the year feast.


	7. friends, best friends, and boyfriends

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Harry Potter . . . I hope this doesn't come as a shock to you . . .

Thanks to all of you reviewers and readers out there. Five more reviews ought to do it. Read and review!

Chapter 7 - Friends, best friends, and boyfriends

"Umm . . . Phoenix?"

Hermione turned around to see a very timid looking Ron walking towards her in the hallway. "Yes Ron?"

"Could we go somewhere more private?" he asked.

". . . Sure . . ." Hermione followed him to a quiet corner. 'Oh Ron, please don't do something stupid and impulsive!' she thought. 'I might not have the heart to say no . . . or yes depending on the circumstances.'

He stood fidgeting nervously.

"Yes? What is it?" asked Hermione in apprehension.

"Well, you see, I know we've only just met and all, but I feel like I've known you for much longer than that. You're not like everyone else because you say what you mean and you seem to tell it like it is. I feel drawn to you for some reason, and if you'd give me the chance, I'd like to find out why that is," Ron concluded.

"So what exactly are you saying?"

Ron ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Well I was kind of hoping that you would um . . . go out with me . . . I mean, there's no strings attached or anything and if you don't want to that's cool too. So . . . what do you say?"

"Can you give me a minute?" she asked, and at his nod turned around and thought about it. 'Well, I could say yes, I mean I am supposed to move on with life and be a different person and not give myself away and saying no might be a dead give away that I still think of him as a brother and not like a boyfriend. And besides . . . Ron and I did have some kind of chemistry even though it's not the same kind, but . . . I guess that's okay.' Hermione nodded decisively, turned back around, looked at him in the eye, and took a deep breath.

"You're answer's no isn't it?" asked Ron hanging his head sadly.

"I didn't say that Ron! Please don't make assumptions about me, I am easily offended by that. Of course I'll go out with you . . . on a trial basis like you said because you don't know me as well as I know you . . . or if you'll like me when you know me that well."

"Okay great! Well . . . see you tomorrow, and sleep well," he said waving to her and heading up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Goodnight," she said after him. 'What am I getting myself into?'

She walked out slightly dazed and walked into Draco . . . literally

"Hey! Watch it - oh Phoenix sorry about that," he said upon seeing who she was. "Hey is there something wrong? You look like you've seen a quintaped or something."

"No I'm fine . . . just dazed at running into you . . . nothing big," Hermione shrugged it off. 'Actually I just said yes to Ron, but I can't back out now . . . I'll let him break things off, he'll get tired of me soon . . . whenever that is,' she thought to herself.

"I have a question for you," he said looking around noticing that the hall was empty.

"Yeah?" Hermione asked apprehensively hoping against all hope that Draco didn't act as impulsively as Ron did.

"Well . . . you've never been to Hogwarts, so do you even know how to get to Ravenclaw Tower?"

Hermione let out a relieved sigh. "No I don't."

"I'll show you where. I know where all the Common Rooms are, and their passwords because of my being Head Boy and all. Padma would take you but she had some duties to attend to first, so Dumbledore asked me to lead you there."

"How thoughtful of him."

"Yeah . . ." they walked on in silence. "Hey Phoenix?" he asked after a while.

"What is it Draco?" she asked curiously, hoping that Draco was a safe person to be around because he wouldn't try to make a move on her.

"Do you happen to like quidditch?" he asked.

"Well, Hermione and I would always talk about quidditch . . . you couldn't stop that girl from reading about it when she got books upon books about it; and when she started talking about it, there was no shutting her up. She kind of rubbed off on me. So in answer to your question, yeah I like quidditch."

"Did you know there's openings on Ravenclaw's team for seeker, beater, and chaser?" he said in interest.

"And?" she replied flatly.

"You could try out for the quidditch team since you like it so much," said Draco as though it were really obvious.

"One problem with your little theory though . . . I've flown a broom maybe twice in my lifetime . . . I can barely fly!" she exclaimed as they drew near a stone wall.

"This is your stop. I could give you flying lessons," said Draco eagerly.

"Why would you want to help someone whose in an opposing house?"

"Because you're my friend," said Draco sincerely.

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't be this open to anyone I didn't consider a friend. Hell, none of my 'friends' know half as much as you do aside from Blaise, so I guess I could say you're one of my best friends even though we've only known each other less than a day."

"Wow . . . I have a best friend already. Didn't see that one coming," she said also adding mentally, 'I didn't see myself having a boyfriend and a new enemy either, so I'll just go with it.'

"Neither did I. Oh, your password is _wisdom_," he said and watched as the wall slid away to reveal a dark blue room with dark maple wood and copper embellishments. "Kind of reminds me of my Common Room. Well, this is where I leave you. Good night Phoenix," he said as he headed in the other direction.

"Goodnight Draco," said Hermione watching his retreating back. Then she walked into her Common Room and was greeted by Terry Boot.

"Hi you're the new girl aren't you? Nice to finally meet you in person, I'm -"

"Terry Boot. Pleased to meet you too," Hermione said shaking his hand. "I'm Phoenix, but folks back in Arizona called me Dallas."

"Would you rather we called you that?"

"Umm . . . yes since I'm living with all of you guys it'd be nice to be on friendly terms. So yeah, call me Dallas."

"Okay, I'll let everyone else know. In the meantime . . . girls' dorms are on the left. I'm not sure which room though but they're marked so you'll find it," he said as he walked towards a group of friends.

So Hermione went up the stairs and to the left. The seventh year room was the second door she saw. She entered and was greeted by her three roommates.

"Hi you're Phoenix aren't you? Well I'm -"

"Lisa Turpin. And you're Mandy Brocklehurst, and Sally-Ann Perks. Am I right?" she asked addressing each one respectively. "Yeah my name is Phoenix, but would you guys mind calling me Dallas? My friends back in Arizona did."

"Oh yeah sure. Say, how did you know our names Dallas?" asked Mandy.

"Well, as Headmaster Dumbledore said, I am or rather _was_ Hermione Granger's foster sister. She told me all about absolutely everyone. Naturally that's a lot of people, but I eventually figured out who was who."

"I didn't know that Hermione knew me . . ." said Sally-Ann confused.

"Oh, well she did . . . she kinda figured she had to know everyone because of DA," Hermione explained.

"She told you about DA?" asked Padma Patil as she walked into the girls' dorm.

"Well, yeah, she told me about everything that wasn't secret. Like that horrible Umbrige lady was all she talked about for like a week after her fifth year. I hated the lady and I never even met or knew her," she said with a shudder.

"That woman's name is almost worse to say than you-know-who's . . ." said Lisa in agreement.

"Well on to a happier note. We still have 45 minutes for girl talk," said Padma excitedly.

All the girls gathered onto Mandy's bed and talked about lots of things. Then the talk turned to boys.

"Now it's time to make our annual list of the top ten hottest guys our age or older. Oh, Dallas we started a tradition in first year to name the ten guys we think are really hot and the pin the list on the wall . . . kind of a group bonding thing to see how our tastes change over the years, and we write it down no questions asked, and you can name as many or as few guys as you want, just so long as you explain the reason somehow," explained Sally-Ann.

"Okay, I'm game," said Hermione pulling out her wand and summoning a quill and parchment, while feeling thoroughly offended that they were calling guys 'hot', but she wouldn't let that get in the way of possible friendships when it wasn't _that_ important.

"Number one is most definitely Draco Malfoy. No doubt about it! I mean look at him, he's soooo hot, no questions asked!" said Mandy dreamily.

1 - Draco Malfoy

"Number two should be Blaise Zabini . . . Draco's totally dreamy best friend," said Sally-Ann.

Hermione almost laughed at the statement about Blaise being his best friend, when he had just explained that to her.

2 - Blaise Zabini

"How about Ron Weasley for third? He's so sweet and so totally cute! Did you see the way he looked at me during dinner? He was so totally checking me out! Oh, I wish he was my boyfriend!" sighed Padma. Hermione's quill froze, but she wrote it down quickly before the other girls would notice.

3 - Ron Weasley

'Too bad it was me he was looking at Padma . . . I was right next to you, but I'm not going to say anything.'

"I thought you didn't like him after the Yule Ball. But oh well! In that case, we have to put Fred and George Weasley on the list. True, they don't attend, but they're here like every week to sell their stuff and they are heroes in their own right since they were the main people involved in getting rid of Umbrige," said Lisa pointedly and shuddering at the hated woman's name.

"Do you want them together?" asked Hermione.

"Oh no, George first cause he's sweeter, and that's much more important than humor because Fred's the funnier one."

4 - George Weasley

5 - Fred Weasley

"Hey what do you guys think of Su Li for sixth, I mean he's got that whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going on this year," said Sally-Ann.

'Oh my goodness, if I hang out with them too much longer I'll become a mindless twit just like they are!' thought Hermione sighing internally.

6 - Su Li

"I know how certain people hate this person, but you can't say that Harry Potter isn't hot, he was Witches Weekly's most shaggable bachelor this summer," said Mandy mainly to Hermione and Padma who looked disgustedly at Mandy.

7 - Potter

"We need to put Terry on there. He's been looking good lately," said Padma.

8 - Terry Boot

"We also need to put Ernie Macmillan, because he's my boyfriend, and if he's not hot, then he's in big trouble," said Lisa.

9 - Ernie Macmillan

"So that means the number ten spot absolutely has to go to Snape! He's so hot and mysterious, with that long black hair and the tight black outfit on his perfectly lean and muscular body, with those robes that swish whenever he walks . . ." said Sally-Ann in a dramatic sigh, like it was a big secret, which she had just been dying to tell. The other girls giggled and nodded in agreement.

10 - Professor Snape

'Oh. . .my. . .God. . . I can't believe that they think my uncle is hot!' Hermione thought in complete revulsion. 'Looks like she's getting hot just thinking about him . . . eww!'

Padma grabbed the list and pinned it up next to the six other lists (,which Hermione made a mental note to look at,)and then said, "Lights out girls! Good night!"

"Good night Padma," they said, then she left.

In ten minutes, every student in Hogwarts was sleeping except for two . . .


	8. the first lessons of many

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

So did you guys figure out who was still awake? I should hope it's pretty obvious . . . well even if it's not, you'll find out who in this chapter. And be warned it kind of switches viewpoints without warning in this chapter. Speaking of which you should enjoy reading and REVIEW!

Chapter 8 - The first lessons of many

Draco lay in bed that night pondering about many different things at once: his father, Voldemort's offer for him, the death of Hermione Granger, his mother; but mostly, he was thinking about his new best friend Phoenix.

'Does she apply herself to school as much as Gra - Hermione - did? What kinds of things is she into? Do phoenixes have really bad mood swings or do they get really mad or scared with very little provocation? I think it's the latter because she got pissed off at Potter and scared of me really fast. I wonder why she hates Potter so much . . . can't say that I blame her on that though . . .' he thought with a smirk. 'I wonder if she has a boyfriend. Someone like her probably would have since she's so gorgeous and nice. I can find out later though.'

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Hermione also lay awake with a plague of thoughts. 'Why did Harry do this to me? I know I left, but I didn't have a choice in the matter. I hope you're happy Potter . . .' she thought sinisterly. 'Should I really have said yes to Ron when he asked me out? I know I thought this through for a bit, but did I really even consider the cons of dating him? I would want to be at his throat for half the things he does, then the other half I'll want nothing to do with him. I'm not really even giving him a chance though and we haven't actually done anything as a couple yet and he looked really happy that I agreed. . .' Hermione sighed and sat up in bed. Her hair fell in her face so she pushed it behind her ears.

"Why am I even bothering to worry about my romantic life? There's obviously no such thing as love or else Potter wouldn't be such a jack ass and I wouldn't be in this predicament," she murmured.

Hermione made a vow right then and there that she would no longer care about love. She would go through that menial crap about relationships as it came. She would do it to make the other party happy. Her happiness would take a back seat to what other people wanted. If and when Ron broke up with her, she would accept it so long as it made him happy. If someone else asked her out when they broke up, she would accept them if they were happy about it. She wouldn't ever end a relationship ever . . . even if she hated it, so long as the other person was happy. 'So long as they're happy I'm happy, and I can't get hurt because love doesn't exist outside fairy tales,' she nodded her head decidedly.

'Although . . . there will be an exception to that rule . . . once they want sex, I want out and I'll make sure of it because I won't give myself up to some unworthy git just because he doesn't want to keep his bloody pants on.'

"Why do I even bother anymore?" she asked herself quietly. She lay down and went into a restless and tiring sleep.

Hermione didn't want to admit it to herself, but she didn't have any control over her emotions and that scared her, so she felt as though if she completely cut herself off from being allowed to feel something for anyone or anything that she might end up okay. So she put her emotions on the sidelines, not wanting to have to deal with them.

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Hermione and Draco woke up after an restless sleep feeling about as confused as one can be after spending an entire night trying and trying to understand themselves and sort things out without any sort of luck in the matter.

They both got up and did the normal morning routine: shower, teeth, hair, clothes, and in Hermione's case a little make-up. Then they put on their school robes and went down to breakfast.

When Draco saw Phoenix, he noted that she looked just as tired and confused as he was. He was going to say hello when one Ron Weasley came up to her and put his arm around her waist possessively. 'Guess that answers my question about the boyfriend . . . too bad it had to be the Weasel,' he shrugged it off as he went into the Great Hall.

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Hermione was taken by surprise as Ron came up behind her.

"Hey Phoenix ," he said slipping his arm around her easily.

"Oh, hey Ron."

"How are you?" he asked trying to make small talk.

"A bit tired, how are you?"

"I'm good . . . got a bit of a shock this morning looking at Harry's face and seeing normal and then a blister in the shape of a small hand."

Hermione laughed sinisterly. "Well he deserved it," she said bitterly.

"I'm not going to side on this, but I won't say he didn't have it coming to him eventually," he said as he ushered Hermione into the Great Hall. "I guess I'll see you in class then," he said as he walked over to an angry looking Harry.

Hermione could see the glare he attempted to send her and laughed as he winced in pain from the burn being stretched and contorted. She then walked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat on the side next to the Slytherin table on the end.

She saw Draco walk in and came up to her. He kneeled by her and said, "Hey Phoenix, how about we have our first flying lesson tonight?"

"That sounds good. What time?"

"How about right after dinner."

"Sounds good. After dinner it is. Don't be late," she said as he walked to the Slytherin table and sat down across from her so their backs were facing each other.

The usual flutter of wings sounded as owls came to deliver the mail. Hermione noted that each owl carried a class schedule among their deliveries as one was dropped in front of her.

She grabbed the schedule and looked it over quickly. 'Hmm . . . Snape is my last teacher of the day. That'll be interesting . . . a nice dose of the 'evil potions professor' to finish out my day. I wonder how I could possibly not hear about him being my uncle before this summer . . . but I guess he took that secret very seriously.'

Draco tapped on her shoulder, "Phoenix, let's going. We have Ancient Runes Level 5 first thing."

Hermione looked around her and noticed that almost everyone was leaving already. So she got up and walked to the Ancient Runes room with Draco.

Hermione went over her schedule in her mind as she and Draco walked in companionable silence.

'Every other day I have Ancient Runes Level 5, then Advanced Charms, then lunch, Advanced History of Magic, after that I have Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, and last but not least I have Advanced Potions . . . and then the other days I have Arithmancy Level 5 first off, Advanced Transfiguration, Lunch, Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, Advanced Herbology, and Advanced Astronomy once sun sets after that. This is not going to be an easy year.'

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"Phoenix?"

"What is it Draco?" asked Hermione absently.

"Uhh, we're here," said Draco.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking."

"That's cool. Well, let's go."

"Okay," said Hermione as they opened the door and stepped into the classroom.

"Welcome, welcome students. My name is Professor Rubar (pronounced: Roo - bar.) This year is going to be very different for the two of you from the off. The most obvious changes will be the reduced class size, the level of work, and myself. The previous teacher, Professor Vector,had too many classes this year to be able to teach you successfully without having a severe panic attack eventually and I will be taking his place so the two of you can continue your education. Now, I know that the two of you are extremely gifted with the Ancient Runes Study and that's what got you here. I know that neither of you are stupid, and so I will be expecting no less than excellence from the both of you. Understood?"

"Yes sir," they both said responsively.

"All right. You will only have one project this year, but believe me, it will take the whole year and it will not be easy. I have brought you a book written in the runes you have learned. There will also be some runes that you will not have learned as well. You will have the whole year to translate this book. I will have weekly check points to see how far you have progressed. I am going to provide you with a short list containing a select few runes that you will need to know that going to be used throughout the book that you would otherwise not know. You will work to decipher two books, each of you taking a different book that has already been predetermined based on your personal preferences for reading and the situations in your life. So what are we waiting for? Let's grab you those books," said Professor Rubar walking into a room in the back and bringing out two books that could both have easily rivaled the size of the original Hogwarts, A History and the revised edition combined and set it down on the table in front of them.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other quickly and then at the Professor who set down a very short list of runes and their translations.

"Firebird: Memoirs of the Phoenix . . ." Hermione said reading the title.

"Ah yes, a very good tale, very good. Very informative about phoenixes and their human counterparts and all of the stipulations involved with them. Mr. Malfoy, which is yours?"

"Desolation Isle: the Lord of Magic . . ." Draco said semi-bored by the name of the title making it sound like something he wouldn't find interesting.

"I see . . . very tragic and painful to read through. Very philosophical and a vast level of depth and perception about life. A very good book indeed. So I will leave you two to start your translations. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. I want the first chapter of each in a week."

Hermione and Draco set to their books with haste excited to be in their first class of the year.

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Hermione found that her time passed with Draco and Professor Rubar all too quickly and she was on her way to her next class.

"Advanced Charms, this should be pretty fun don't you think?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, I'm just glad that it's only people who are good at charms instead of everyone and anyone," said Draco thinking of his buffoon body guards Crabbe and Goyle.

"True . . . and from what I hear, the class is pretty small this year since not many people passed O.W.L.s with Excellent or Outstanding for Charms."

"Did Gr - Hermione - tell you about who passed and who didn't? Cause I don't know how you'd know otherwise."

"Well, yeah . . . not to mention that she took the advanced classes last year as did some others who needed them. Most people quit advanced classes after having been in them last year from what she told me," said Hermione quickly covering her slight blunder.

"Oh, I get it. Well, here's the Charms classroom," said Draco opening the door and holding it for her.

Hermione stepped in and saw that the class size was indeed small (15 people.) Draco and Blaise Zabini were the only Slytherins in the room, which didn't surprise too many people, after all, they were 'best friends' and stuck together all the time and both of them were brilliant wizards, whether people liked to admit that part or not.

"Phoenix, over here, I saved you a seat," called Ron who was separated from Harry, who sat withnone other than Parvati Patil.

Hermione bid Draco a quick goodbye and took a seat next to her boyfriend Ron.

"Hey Ron . . . how was your first class?" asked Hermione trying to make small talk.

"Boring . . . I had History of Magic and I think Binns got even more boring over the summer if it's even possible," Ron said jokingly.

Hermione gave a short laugh, "Hermione always told me that you thought that History of Magic was even more boring than watching paint dry."

"Huh?" he asked looking confused.

"Oh, sorry . . . American muggle expression."

"Oh okay. So how was your first class?" he asked conversationally.

"Oh, it was loads of fun. I had Study of Ancient Runes Level 5 and Draco and I were each given a book to translate into English."

"Who?"

"Draco?"

"You mean Malfoy?"

"Yeah . . . that's who I meant."

"Are you and him. . ._friends_?" asked Ron increduously.

"Yeah, that's not a problem is it?"

"Oh, no it's just that it was surprising that he is capable of social human functions resembling anything remotely like friendship."

"He's really not as bad as you would think. And I think Hermione rubbed off on you, you're talking like she would."

"I know, I guess it's just something you pick up if you are Hermione's friend, I miss her too; she was like a second sister to me. I'm not going to agree with you about the first thing though, but if you want to be friends with him, then go right ahead. Just please don't try and make me be nice to him because that just wouldn't work."

"I wouldn't dream of it. Is Potter mad at you about us going together?"

Ron opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the starting of the class.

"Class please settle down," called Professor Flitwick. "I have an exciting lesson planned for you this year. Today we will begin a unit on the Patronus Charm. Now who could explain what the Patronus Charm is used for?"

Hermione raised her hand tentatively along with a few others (including Potter.)

"Miss Turoe?"

"The Patronus Charm is made up of the person's happy thoughts and can be used to ward off dementors, lethifolds and occasionally boggarts if you have a fear of either of those two."

"Very good Miss Turoe, I can see that you have the same intellect of your sister. Five points to Ravenclaw. Now, what form does the Patronus Charm take?"

Again there was a number of hands that went into the air.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"Well, there is no specified form for the charm. It comes as an animal unique to the person casting the charm."

"Yes. Five points to Slytherin. All right, now repeat after me . . . Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum," repeated everyone in the class (most of them already knew how to cast the charm, but were just saying it to make the Professor happy).

"Yes, wonderful. Now take out your wands. Close your eyes and think of the happiest memory you have."

Everyone obeyed and thought of a happy memory. "Does everyone have their memory?" asked Flitwick, and at the murmur of assent said, "Okay, now attempt to cast the charm."

Everyone opened their eyes and a large number of "EXPECTO PATRONUM's!" exploded though the classroom in anuproarious noise. There were about ten animals soaring through the room including Potter's infamous stag. Hermione noticed that her Patronus had started as an otter as usual, but quickly changed into a phoenix. 'What just happened?' she thought.

"Phoenix, how did you do that?" asked Ron.

"I don't rightly know Ron," said Hermione befuddled.

Flitwick then said, "Look at Miss Turoe's Patronus everyone. It has evolved into a different animal. Can anyone tell me what that means?"

Harry whispered to Seamus, "Maybe it means she's schizoid?"

"Or maybe her Patronus is," Seamus whispered back.

Harry and Seamus both sniggered at the utterly stupid and childish comments.

Hermione, Ron, and Draco all glared at the two of them.

"Professor, it means that her Patronus has evolved based on her level of skill as a witch," said Ron informatively while looking pointedly at Harry and Seamus.

"Very good Ron, five points to Gryffindor," said Professor Flitwick. Hermione smiled at Ron. Draco gave a light glare to the interaction between the two.

"Or it could mean that Phoenix's Patronus has sensed a change in her and has adjusted accordingly. It could mean that it has noticed that something is different in her life, like a terrible tragedy or something vastly different . . . like something very happy; Professor," said Draco glaring at Ron.

"Very true Mr. Malfoy, five points to Slytherin. Miss Turoe's Patronus Charm has evolved into a different animal because her skill has evolved into a much higher level, or because it sensed a change in her life or personality and adjusted accordingly. Or it could be both," he said seeing at the competitive glances passed between Ron and Draco.

"Ron, stop it," Hermione whispered harshly also noting the glances passing between the two.

"Sorry Phoenix, but I really don't like him and I can't change that," he whispered back.

"All right, now I would like everyone to try the Patronus again, because I noticed that some people were not able to produce them," said Flitwick looking around the room.

After the fifth try, everyone was able to produce them. Draco was very frustrated because he was the very last to get it, but when he got it, his face lit up at the sight of a very large silver dragon.

The rest of class was spent studying the charm and they were all assigned a foot long essay to explain what affected the animal, and what animals were connected to what characteristics, and how many animal shapes there were.

By the end of the day Hermione had a major assignment in every class that were all due by the end of the week or very close to that deadline.

She didn't know how she was going to balance all of this and the flying lessons she was going to take. The first thought she had, as she was going out to meet Draco at the quidditch pitch, was, 'If I can actually learn fast enough what position would I want to play on the quidditch team?'

'I would want to either be a chaser or a seeker. Chaser would be fun, but I'm not really all that good at throwing . . . maybe I could be a seeker? Yeah, a seeker would be so cool. I'll talk to Draco and see if he can help me with that . . ."


	9. beginnings of confusion

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I intend to pretend that I do.

Well, that last chapter was a bit of a dud, but oh well. Just a fair warning, part of this chapter might not make good sense until later on when I explain it in a later chapter. So anyways, on with the story! 5 MORE REVIEWS PLEASE!

Chapter 9 - Beginnings of Confusion

Hermione spotted someone on the quidditch pitch flying swiftly and performing tricks, and then they flew down to the spectators' stands. She walked onto the field and looked up at the young man perched up in the stands of the quidditch pitch looking wistfully upwards. She recognized him immediately as Draco. 'I wonder what he's thinking about.'

"Draco!" Hermione called and waved at him. Draco stood up and flew down to her with a small smile playing about his lips.

"Hey Phoenix," Draco said with very slightly breathless quality to his voice.

Hermione took in his appearance, his hair was a little bit wind blown and tousled, he had a spark in his eyes and a smile lighting up his face from the invigoration of flying. 'He looks positively handsome,' Hermione quickly shook that thought from her mind, 'You have a boyfriend Hermione! Shame on you!'

"Phoenix?" Draco asked looking at her.

Hermione shook her head, "Sorry Draco, just thinking . . ."

"What about?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, it's not important."

"Okay, well, let's get started. I am going to let you use my broom for now because the school brooms are terrible," Draco said handing his broom to her.

"All right," said Hermione holding his pride and joy, the Nimbus 2001, delicately in her hands.

"Okay, so how much do you know about flying?" asked Draco.

"Well, I know that you step up to the side, hold out your hand and say 'up', and then you mount. But I'm assuming you don't really have to do that?" asked Hermione seeing the task as menial because you could just hold the broom and mount it.

"Yeah, you don't have to do that . . . that's just what they tell you to do during first year. Or you do that on very temperamental brooms, but those are just the old ones or the experimental ones."

"It figures that the teachers always make things more complicated than they have to be," Hermione sighed.

Draco gave a light chortle and said, "Okay, well first things first. You have to mount the broom."

Hermione swung one leg over the broom.

"Okay, your hands should be here . . ." Draco moved her hands, ". . . and here. That makes it a lot easier to fly."

"Right," Hermione said ignoring the warmsensation shewas feelingfrom his hands on her own.

"Now, all you have to do is will yourself to fly. Just think about yourself lifting off . . ." Hermione concentrated on lifting off and found herself a meter off the ground. "Good. Your doing really well Phoenix. Okay, now just remember that all you have to do is will yourself to fly."

Hermione thought about moving forward and felt that she moved about half a meter forward.

Hermione thought more about flying and flew forward more. Becoming more excited by the second, Hermione flew around the stadium once and landed. 'She looks like an angel,' thought Draco as he watched her flying.

"I did it! Draco, I did it!" Hermione said excitedly with a bright smile.

"Yeah, you did. Great job," said Draco absently, still thinking of the sight he beheld when she was flying around the stadium with ease and charisma.

"That was easier than I thought."

"Most people always think it will be. Flying is actually quite easy once you realize it's only your mind that you need to have to fly . . . and maybe some talent . . . but that's beside the point," he said pompously, but still a slightly sarcastic tone was evident in the statement.

Hermione chuckled lightly, "There is nothing at all modest about you is there?"

"I know . . . it's a curse. So have you thought about what position you want to play?"

"Well, I either want to be a seeker or a chaser. Probably a seeker though, I'm not entirely sure. I was thinking you could help me to decide because I don't know what I'd do best at."

Draco looked at her and thought, 'She's really small compared to all of the other seekers, which could be really helpful for Ravenclaw. She has pretty fast reactions and could probably see better than the average person. I don't know how well she can throw and catch . . . she's not very big and that's usually more helpful for a chaser because the other team usually goes for them. So I would think a seeker would best.'

"Draco?" Hermione waved her hands in front of him. 'He's so cute when he's thinking . . . gah! Hermione would you stop doing that already?' Hermione thought to herself.

"Sorry, I was thinking about it. I think you'd be best as a seeker because you're smaller than all the other seekers and you have a pretty fast reaction time . . . I'm guessing you can see better than most people too. So yeah, I'd say you should go for seeker."

Hermione suddenly realized that she should probably be heading back, "Okay thanks. Well, I really think I should get going and go do my homework. Lots of it . . . I don't want to put it off either."

"Yeah, homework. I have to get going on that book of mine, it's a lot harder than one would think," said Draco as Hermione began to walk back to the castle. He caught up to her, "Hey, I'll walk you back to your Common Room. I don't want you to possibly get caught being out late. That wouldn't be very good."

"Okay, thanks," said Hermione absently as they resumed walking never taking notice of the close proximity they walked in. 'Think about your book Hermione, you have to have the first chapter translated by the end of this week. Don't think about Ron . . . or Draco,' Hermione mentally slapped herself.

"So, how is your book?" Draco asked her.

"Uh, it's good. I haven't translated very much yet . . . just a couple pages. I still have loads more work to do on it though."

"Cool," he said as they walked on in silence.

Hermione felt uncomfortable in the silence and with the distance between them and broke it as she took a slight step to the side to avoid feeling his body heat next to hers, "So uh . . . how's your book coming along?"

He felt at a slight loss once she moved away from him, but didn't let his disappointment show as he carefully masked his face, "Oh, it's really good. I didn't get very much done either, it's a really long first chapter. But yeah, it's a good read."

"Cool," said Hermione as they walked on in silence yet again. She felt him grow suddenly cold to her, and she couldn't explain why, but she was upset that he could so easily distance himself from her. Hermione suddenly remembered that book Draco was reading earlier about philosophy. She had been so disturbed to read what she had earlier, she wanted to ask Draco about it, "Hey Draco?"

"Yeah?" he asked with interest.

'Although, that would mean telling him that I was invading his privacy.' "Never mind."

"Oh, okay," he said shrugging it off like he didn't care.

Hermione felt frustrated that he was acting so differently. . . it was even worse than the blatant hate he used to show her. She could stand that, but she couldn't take this sudden cool indifference.

As they approached the common room he said, "Well, this is where I leave you. Goodnight Phoenix."

He left very quickly before she really had the chance to say goodbye. Hermione just sighed and entered her Common Room.

He felt as though he was being kind of rude, but he couldn't deal with this. She was the Weasel's girlfriend, not his . . . Weasley's. He didn't want to do something he would regret like . . . well actually he didn't know what he would have done, but he knew that he probably would have done something if he had stayed any longer.

Draco hurried down to the Head Boy and Head Girl dorms and he ran into none other than Padma Patil.

"Hey Draco, you're out late," she observed.

"Yeah, I was busy doing something," said Draco distractedly.

Padma took in his appearance and thought with a smirk, 'Yeah, more like busy doing someone!' "So who were you with?"

"Just a friend," said Draco slightly miffed at the Head Girl's attempts to pry into his personal life.

"Oh, okay," said Padma taking the hint that he did not want to talk anymore about the current topic. "So . . . how was your summer?" she asked conversationally.

"Oh, the usual . . ." said Draco not allowing her any chance to acquire the information she was so desperate to attain.

"Uh huh, and that would be?" she asked with a small hand gesture.

"I went home, saw my family, got school supplies, went to King's Cross, now I'm here . . . what else would you do on a summer break?" he said growing all the more agitated at the girl's persistence.

"I don't know, I just thought you might have gone somewhere or met a girl or something," she said sighing and giving up her efforts to find out about the mystery that was Draco Malfoy.

Draco smirked at the common thought process in regards to him. 'Typical; every girl wants to know if I'm single so they can try and get together with me so they can get a good shag thinking I'm a sex God of sorts even though I'm still a virgin. All it takes is being flirtatious, mysterious, and attractive and everyone automatically assumes that it's because you're some fantastically randy person who's getting some at every turn. Well, two can play at that game . . .' "Why, did you want to check on my availability? It just so happens that I did meet a girl over the summer," he said thinking of Phoenix, after all he did just meet her at the end of summer, and he technically wasn't available (partially by choice, partially by force,) but she didn't need to know that.

"What . . . you - you met a girl?" asked Padma as her mouth dropped.

"Yeah, she's really special. She is really gorgeous and smart . . . probably smarter than Granger was. I like her a lot too," he said, and he wasn't lying, he really did believe those things about her, he just never specified that there was no romantic involvement; so his words couldn't be considered false. "Oh, and close your mouth, you don't want to catch any flies do you?" he said, barely containing his laughter at the girl. 'Too bad there isn't any chance for romantic involvement though. . .' He immediately sombered at that thought.

She snapped her mouth shut quickly. Padma was stunned, Draco had a reputation for not being able to commit to any girl ever, he was after all the most promiscuous boy at Hogwarts. She watched Draco as he said the password and stepped into the Common Room. "Oh . . . my . . . God!" she said to herself as she too stepped into the Head Common Room, thinking she absolutely _had_ to tell the girls.

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She heard some noise from upstairs in Draco's room and decided to investigate.

Draco dug through his school trunk hastily, throwing clothes and stuff carelessly aside in his search. 'Where is it?' he thought frantically as his hand brushed a small shiny object. 'Oh, good, I found it!' he thought as he reached in and pulled out a sharp thin piece of metal about two centimeters long and a quarter of a centimeter high, which then had a plastic grip at the top to hold it by making this unique thing about two centimeters high. He rolled up his left sleeve to reveal a long column of scars about two centimeters long each most of the way down his arm, each getting ever so slightly redder than the last having been more recent than the last.

He looked fondly at the tool in his hand and put it to his arm and pushed it down. He gasped slightly and pulled out the invasive object and watched as blood began to pool around where he had made the incision. He felt relief flood through him as he watched the blood begin flowing freely down his arm and mar his skin with it's pure crimson color. He smiled "It's beautiful. It's perfect," he said in a whisper.

"Draco what's going on?" asked a familiar yet unwelcomed voice.

He turned around sharply and scowled at the person who dared to break this perfect moment. "Shit Padma! Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" he said like a deer caught in head lights as he hid his arm behind him along with the blade he had just used.

"I'm sorry, I just heard some noise up here and I wanted to make sure that you were okay," she said with concern.

"No, nothing going on here, just looking for my pajamas, and look! There they are!" he said looking at the ground and quickly picking up the pajamas with his good hand. "Now if you would kindly leave me to sleep I'd be much appreciative," said Draco in false politeness.

"Oh okay, if you're sure," she said doubtfully. Something was telling her that not all was well as appearances would tell her.

"I'm sure, now I don't want to have to say it again, please leave!" he said urgently as he felt the blood reaching to his fingertips now, knowing that if he didn't hurry, the blood would drip onto the carpet.

"All right," she said leaving with many unanswered questions about the strange situation.

Draco gave a quiet sigh. He'd have to remember to be careful about making noise in his room when Padma was around.

He walked into the bathroom and washed the blood off, then dabbed alcohol on the cut, then went back to his room and pulled out his homework and started to do it. 'Damn it, I can't think! Why is it that I can't control my emotions? I should be able to. She's not my girlfriend, so what? I don't need a girlfriend . . . I've done without one up until now, I can still do without now . . . can't I?'


	10. many meetings

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. (duh! Who didn't see that coming?)

My only note is REVIEW!

Chapter 10 - Many Meetings

September passed by without a hitch, and Hermione was getting back into the swing of things with school. Hermione and Ron were still together which, frankly, had surprised Hermione. She could tell that Ron thought more of her as a best friend with benefits, but she was fine with that. In fact, that worked out better than she could imagine. She was on top of all of her classes and very far ahead with her work. All ofher extra time was spent practicing flying and she was improving greatly. Quidditch tryouts were the very next morning (October 1) and Hermione was very excited, but she could not sleep.

Despite everything going as well as it was, there was still something that was constantly plaguing her thoughts about her life. It was the single thing that made absolutely no sense to her no matter how much she contemplated it. It bugged her to no end that she couldn't figure it out. This is why we find that Hermione was not in her room that night, but wandering aimlessly in the halls of Hogwarts thinking about this one thing.

She needed answers and she wanted them now, she saw that opportunity as soon as she realized which hall she was in and made her way to the one place she knew she could, and hopefully would, find her answers.

"Excuse me, but um, Professor?" asked Hermione as she peeked into theroom from the open door.

"Yes, what is it?" asked Severus Snape looking distractedly through some papers. (Bet you guys weren't exactly expecting that now were you!)

"I'm really sorry to bother you, but I had a question that I wanted to ask you," said Hermione taking a step inside of the Potions classroom.

"Very well, have a seat, I'll be with you in a moment," he said indicating the seat in front of his desk while still looking through the papers on his desk. He sighed running a hand through his hair and pushed the papers aside then looked up at Hermione. "What is your question Miss Turoe?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you could explain why I had to have my name and appearance changed if I was just going to be staying in the wizarding world and not the muggle world. The more I've been thinking about it, the more strange it seems to me," Hermione stated.

"I had a feeling you would wonder about that eventually. There are two relatively simple explanations to having your name and appearance changed. The first was that your parent's wills stated that if either of them were to be killed, the remainder of the family, you in this case, would come to me under a new identity for your safety. But what would happen if you were discovered to be my niece? You and I would be in extreme danger from both the Black Widows and the Death Eaters, which is why the name change was necessary in this case. The other reason is that despite their appearances, many of the Black Widows , including the boss, are dark wizards who have all decided to live their lives as muggles to avoid confrontation of power with the Death Eaters and they all know that you attended Hogwarts, so if they heard you were dead, then they would leave Hogwarts alone and you would stay safe. But that simply would not do because you were bound to be discovered unless your name and appearance were changed so that suspicion would be able to die down much faster. And if any of the people here knew who you were, your safety would be in jeopardy because you never know who you can trust. Now might I ask why you are out so late?" he finished having just finally realized that she was out of bed after hours talking to him. He had completely forgotten about the hour.

Hermione looked at him sheepishly, "I'm really sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be out after hours, but I couldn't sleep at all. I'm really nervous about the quidditch tryouts tomorrow, and that question was bugging me a lot."

"I see. Well, off to bed now," he said standing and brushing her out the door.

Hermione stared at him, mouth agape, "You mean, you're not going to take off points for me being out late?"

He smirked slightly, "Not this time, but the next time you can guarantee I might not be so generous as I am being right now. Just make sure that you don't get caught when you go back to your room, I know that other people would be more than happy to take away points from your house."

Hermione hurried off back to Ravenclaw tower without a mishap. "Wisdom." Hermione stepped into the Common Room to be greeted by Padma Patil sitting on the couch looking into the fire.

"Um . . . hi . . . what are you doing up Padma?" asked Hermione cautiously.

"Oh, hi Dallas. Where have you been?" asked Padma nicely.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep, so I was walking around, then I went to talk to Professor Snape about an assignment," said Hermione quickly.

"Okay. Hey take a seat," she said.

'What's this all about? I thought Padma disliked me ever since she found out that I was going out with Ron,' thought Hermione as she took a seat. "What's up?"

"Oh, well. I know it's not really important or anything, but I just wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Hermione was wondering where this would be going.

"Did you know that Potter broke up with my sister last week?" asked Padma conversationally.

'I don't need this kind of mindless chatter!' Hermione replied coolly, "I was not aware of that, no."

"She was really distraught about it you know, but she told me he did it because ever since his loss of Hermione, he couldn't keep a steady girlfriend very well, usually a week or less, because he was really upset about it. He didn't love her romantically, but he loved her even so, like a sister. That was why he disliked you so much . . . because you remind him so much of her and you were there to see her when she died."

"I never knew that," said Hermione to herself.

"Parvati told me that today, then I realized something after a lot of thinking. I was disliking you for the exact same reason, because you remind me so much of her too. The reason I disliked you wasn't because you were with Ron as a girlfriend, but because I was always so jealous of her and what she had. Two best friends who would do anything for her, the top grades of the school. She was considered the smartest witch since Rowena Ravenclaw herself, maybe even better. She was perfect, and to top it off, she had a perfect boyfriend."

"How come she never knew about this?"

"No one wanted to tell her because we were afraid of how she would react and if she would change. We knew she wouldn't get bigheaded about it, but we were still afraid that she might feel that way."

"Really . . . I would never have thought that . . ."

"And then you came and you have four best friends who would do anything for you, and the best grades in all of the hardest classes, and you just as smart as she was, maybe even more so. Don't get me wrong, I liked Hermione, I really did. But I was always the second best to her and when she was gone, I felt I really had a chance to shine and to prove myself. And then you came and I felt as though that chance was instantly taken away. And then, you're even more perfect than she was and you have an even more perfect boyfriend than Harry Potter. I've been insanely jealous of you this whole time. I'm really sorry about that. I was wrong to hold a grudge for something you had no control over."

"Padma, it's fine. Besides, I knew you cared for Ron, true it was after he asked me to be his girlfriend, but still, I could have said no you know?"

"Well, it's not your fault that he asked you and it's not your fault that he likes you and not me. I'm perfectly fine with that now. If you guys ever break up though, you wouldn't mind if I snagged him would you?" she said hopefully.

"No, of course I wouldn't mind. If we break up, he's not still my boyfriend, and he's free of me and can be with whoever he wants. Same with you."

"Okay, thanks. Oh, Dallas, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it?" asked Hermione becoming tired of all of this talking.

"Well, it's about Draco . . ." Hermione looked up instantly, "I know you guys are best friends and I was thinking you might be able to do something about this. True he and I aren't very good friends, but I'm really worried about him lately. He's been acting really strange. He locks himself up in his room every couple days and throws stuff around looking for something. He's always yelling things like "Where did I put it," and stuff like that. When I go up to check on him, he always looks like he's been caught doing something. It's really weird and he won't talk to me about it. So I was hoping you'd talk to him. You don't have to tell me anything if you find something out, but I don't want him to get in trouble, and you can help him if there's something wrong."

"Thanks, I'll check about that, but I'm really tired so I'm going to head up to bed now, I'll see you in the morning," said Hermione yawning and noticing that her accent was starting to fade slightly.

Hermione walked to the girls' dorm and slept restlessly the remainder of the night.

She got up at six to get ready to go eat breakfast, which she didn't feel she could stomach, but knew she needed.

She walked into the bathroom and did the normal morning routine of showering, brushing her teeth and hair, muttering an accent charm which would last for a month at a time, and then applying some make-up. She walked over to her dresser and picked out some hip hugger jeans and a white turtleneck, then adorned her Ravenclaw scarf and headed down to the Great Hall to be greeted by Ron who put his arm possessively around her waist and walked her to her table, then sat next to her.

"So, quidditch try-outs are today. You planning on going?" asked Ron with no clue that she had secretly been training with Draco at night to become a seeker.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be going when I'm supposed to be there," said Hermione having forgotten that no one but the Ravenclaw and Slytherin house had any inkling that she would be trying out for quidditch.

Ron looked at her with a weird expression, "Why would you have to be there?"

"Because I'm trying out silly!" said Hermione like it was obvious.

"What? Why didn't I know? I thought you hated quidditch!" said Ron in shock.

"Ron, remember what I said about assuming things about me? You never asked me if I liked quidditch, but I've been training every night just the same," said Hermione defensively.

"Whoa! I was just talking to you about quidditch only two weeks ago and you didn't even seem to care though, in fact you brushed me off to go to the library," he said having remembered that particular conversation.

"Well, I had an assignment for Ancient Runes that I was highly worried about. You remember that book? It's not that easy to translate and Professor Rubar had just assigned two more chapters to translate by the end of the week, so I was trying to recall some of the runes that I had learned back in my fourth year. I'm sorry I brushed you off then, but it was really important and I needed to look up those runes," said Hermione.

"Oh, that's what you were doing, sorry. I didn't know. But even so, that's great that you're trying out for quidditch. What position?" said Ron taking a keen interest in his girlfriend's newly discovered hobby.

"Well, I wanted to try out for seeker."

"Cool, you'd make a great seeker, yeah, I'm the keeper for Gryffindor if you didn't already know that."

"I remember," said Hermione just as Draco walked in and walked towards her and Ron.

"Weasley," he said with a nod.

Hermione had finally convinced them to at least act civilly to each other in front of her, the could do whatever they wanted away from her though.

"Malfoy," said Ron standing, "I have to go to the Gryffindor try-outs now, or I'm going to be late so I guess I'll see you later Phoenix."

Draco took a seat across from Hermione and said, "I'll let you borrow my broom today because the school brooms still suck, and I will do everything in my power to see to it that you make it onto the team."

"Thanks, you're too kind."

Hermione still remembered the conversation that she had had with Padma the previous night and was trying to plan out her moves so she could find out what was going on. "Hey Draco, are you doing okay lately?"

Draco smiled, "Yeah, never better. Why do you ask?"

"Well, Padma says that you've been a bit . . . off lately."

"Oh, yeah, she's been telling me I've been acting really strange. I don't know what she's talking about me being off, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? She says you seem like you've been hiding something," said Hermione taking a careful look into his eyes to see if she could uncover anything.

"Padma just worries too much, and she makes something out of nothing way too easily. Believe me, I'm fine, I would tell you if there was something wrong."

His eyes were masked over, Hermione could tell he was hiding something whether he'd admit it or not. "Sorry, I just had to make sure," she said letting it go for now.

"Thank you for your concern, well . . . good luck today, come and get my broom before the try-outs, I'll be at the pitch watching the Slytherin try- outs, see you later Phoenix," said Draco getting up and quickly leaving before Hermione could say anything back.

Hermione was somewhat confused by this display of abnormal behaviour. There was definitely something going on and Hermione was determined to figure it out. She looked down at her watch and saw she had about half an hour to eat and go to the pitch, and so she put some eggs and toast on her plate and poured some grapefruit juice in her goblet.

She really didn't want to eat, but she knew she had to if she wanted to be in prime condition for quidditch. She ate quickly and made her way for the quidditch pitch. She jumped as someone snuck up behind her and covered her eyes and said "Guess who?"

Hermione stopped, removed the hands over her eyes, and said good-naturedly, "Ron, don't do that! You scared the hell out of me!"

"Oh, you're no fun!" he fake whined.

"Exactly. Now I have to get to the pitch and talk to Draco really quick," said Hermione moving forward towards the field.

"Oh, but why would you want to do that?" said Ron like the thought in and of itself was repulsive.

"Because he's my friend and I need to get the broom he's holding for me," said Hermione as though explaining to a small child.

"All right!" he said sighing sarcastically. "If you really feel that way, I won't stop you, I only want you to be happy," he added in a fake brotherly way.

"You are impossible Ronald Weasley!" said Hermione in mock exasperation.

"I know, that's why you like me," he said fondly.

Hermione just shook her head and continued on her trek towards Draco.

"Oi Phoenix! Good luck out there, you'll be great!" yelled Ron heading towards the rest of the Gryffindors.

"Bye Ron!" she yelled and ran up the steps to meet Draco who was watching the Hufflepuff try-out for the keeper position as they finished up. "Hey Draco."

"Oh, hey Phoenix," said Draco lowering his eyes to meet hers. "You ready for this? Seeker try-outs for Ravenclaw are next."

"Ready as I'll ever be. I hope I do okay," said Hermione beginning to doubt her abilities.

"You'll be fine. Here's my broom, it's your team's turn now. I'm not going to need to wish you luck because you'll get the spot I'm sure of it," said Draco passing his broom on to her.

Hermione smiled gratefully and made her way down to the team, who were all heading down to the field.

As they stepped onto the field, Hermione saw all of the people eager to try out for the team, she didn't have time to see who was who because the captain, Su Li, was beginning to talk.

"All right everyone, I'm Su and I'll be your captain this year. I am the team's keeper, Padma and Luna here are chasers, and Terry Boot is one of our beaters. We will be testing which of you we think are good enough to be on our team, and I'm warning you now it will be tough and only three of you will make it. We aren't going to show mercy because when you're up there on game days, the other teams will show no mercy either. If you aren't willing to give everything you have to this and be a tough competitor, then I suggest you leave now."

When no one made a move to leave he continued, "All right, good, you all have some back bone. Now all we have to do is find out if you have enough back bone for quidditch. We will be trying the seeker position first, so those of you who want to try out for seeker, please step forward now."

Hermione along with three others stepped forward, all of them were younger than her by a year or two, but she wouldn't let that break her determination.

"Great, now your challenge will be to catch the snitch. The catch is, you will all be going against each other to get you used to the competition, and you only have twenty minutes. Now, all of you mount your brooms. The first to catch the snitch, or the closest one to catching it in twenty minutes will be the new Ravenclaw seeker. All of you close your eyes now, I'll let you know when to open them."

All of them complied and each heard something being let out and zooming away. "Okay, ladies and gentleman, good luck!" said Su as each of the four flew high and began to observe the field for the golden flash.

Hermione's heart was pounding from the adrenaline rush and chanced a look in the stands to see Draco, Ron, Ginny, and Lavender cheering for her. Five minutes passed without a sign of the snitch and she was beginning to get very anxious. She looked at all the others and saw them flying around, faces contorted in concentration. Hermione was feeling very bored by now and then she felt something flutter by her ear and reached out to grab the offending object only to realize that it was the snitch, which flew out of arm's reach as her fingers grazed the golden ball. She quickly sprung into action and flew after the snitch hoping that no one else had noticed. She heard as someone yelled "Bugger!" and began to fly towards her. Hermione could sense the person tailing her closely and urged her broom to go faster.

Hermione saw that the snitch had found it's way behind Potter in the stands. She would have to be careful not to hit anyone or crash. With a boost in her courage, Hermione skimmed behind Potter and clasped the snitch in her hand in victory and quickly flew higher and then back to the cheering people gathered on the field.

"Wow, ten and a half minutes Dallas, that was brilliant!" exclaimed Padma.

"That was great Dallas!" said Terry excitedly.

Hermione dismounted and faced Su (who held out his hand) and shook his proffered hand as he said, "Welcome to the team."

The other three landed and came up to Hermione and each shook her hand and said something along the lines of 'Congratulations.'

Hermione watched as her four best friends: Draco, Ginny, Lavender, and Ron, ran out onto the field (in that order) to congratulate her on her achievements. Draco reached her, pulled her into a big bear hug, spun her around, and set her down. "That was amazing Phoenix! That training really paid off for you. You did even better than I remembered you could!"

Then Ginny and Lavender arrived and both pulled her into a group hug and squealed in excitement.

"Oh Phoenix, you were wonderful!" they both said together.

Ron came up and put his arm around her waist once the two girls let go of her. "I knew you could do it! Hey how about we all go visit Hagrid? We haven't actually visited him in forever, and I'm sure he'd be glad to hear about you getting on the team," he said as he began walking her towards the half-giant's hut.

Hermione looked back at Draco who was looking at her and she called, "Bye Draco! I . . . I guess I'll see you later on then!"

Draco nodded his head and walked back to the castle as she turned back around. He had a couple assignments to catch up on, and some other more pressing matters to attend to anyways . . .

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Now I know each and every one of you reading right now has some thoughts on this story, so DO NOT BE SILENCED! just click that little button down there that says review and review! I guarantee it'll make you feel better! Or at least it'll make me VERY happy! ;) Don't wait another minute to do it, just REVIEW NOW!


	11. confrontations

Disclaimer: I'm sorry to disappoint you all if you were beginning to think that I owned Harry Potter, but I must tell you that I obviously do not.

Well, I'm trying as fast as I can to type up the story as fast as I can, so you'll just have to bear with the speed I'm going at! And I hope that you guys think this is long enough, because this is about as long as I can do. Some of the transitions in this will be extremely weak, choppy, and crappy, but please don't flame me about it! Anyways, review and I'm more inclined to work faster (;D wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) Well, here is the next chapter, the one I think pretty much everyone has been waiting for.

Chapter 11 - Confrontations

Hermione watched Draco dejectedly walk away as Ron, Ginny, and Lavender all hastily made their way towards Hagrid's, pulling her along with them. She felt extremely guilty about leaving him there and told them as much.

"Don't worry Phoenix, he'll be fine," said Ron not really caring if he was or not.

Hermione didn't know if she agreed or not, but didn't push the topic of her other best friend's well being to his enemies. She sighed as they reached Hagrid's door.

Ron knocked and Hagrid's voice could be heard, "I'm comin', I'm comin'!"

He opened the door and saw the four on his doorstep. "Come in, how abou' a cuppa tea, any of yeh?"

As they walked in they all said something along the line of, "No thanks Hagrid."

"Take a seat," said Hagrid pouring himself a tankard of tea and sitting down to drink it. "What brings yeh out this way?"

"We haven't visited in a long time, we wondered how you were doing," said Ron.

"Yeah, we've only seen you during class time and we can't exactly have a friendly conversation during a class when you have to teach everyone at the same time," said Lavender.

"Tha's mighty nice of yer ter do," Hagrid looked between the four of them and saw that one person seemed to be missing, "Where's Harry if yeh don' mind me askin'?"

"Well . . . I guess you could say it's my fault he's not hear Hagrid, he and I don't get along very well," said Hermione sheepishly.

"Wha'? yeh don' get along? How's tha'?"

"Well, I kind of slapped him at the beginning year and called him a bunch of names, and was pretty rude to him, so I guess that didn't get me very many merit points with him," said Hermione nonchalantly.

"Yeh slapped him? I wouldn've imagined yeh doin tha' ter him, leas' ways, not with how long I've known yeh," said Hagrid almost having to cover his mouth to keep from saying anymore information.

Hermione's eyes tensed every so slightly, and if you hadn't paid them any attention, you would think that everything was perfectly normal about the prior statement.

But unfortunately all of them could feel the tenseness of the moment, but pushed it aside in their memory reserves to be investigated later.

Hagrid hurriedly thought of something to draw the attention away from that ever so slight slip-up he'd made to Hermione. "Right, well, err . . . how would you lot like ter see what we'll be workin' with next in class?"

"Sure Hagrid, that's a wonderful idea," said Hermione glad at the chance to remove room for questioning about their odd behaviour of the moment.

"Alrigh' follow me," said Hagrid leading them out to the pumpkin patch, which held a blue speckled bird eating a bug of some kind.

"That's a Jobberknoll, it's absolutely lovely!" squealed Lavender at the sight of the little blue bird.

"Tha's right, tricky ter find and catch, bu' well worth it. He loves the bugs, and now I don' have ter worry about repellin' them while he's here," said Hagrid beaming at the creature before them.

"How did you find it Hagrid? They're really uncommon in England," stated Hermione, whose curious side had taken over just then.

"I got lucky with this one. He jus' came inter the patch jus' this mornin', and hasn' left because of all the food he's got. He seems ter know tha' I won' hurt him, so he stayed. Bu' I also saw tha' his wing's injured, so we're goin' ter nurse it back ter health the muggle way and let it go."

"Oh that's wonderful Hagrid!" exclaimed Hermione in glee at the chance to help a lesser fortunate creature in need.

"Blimey, look at the time, you four better be off," said Hagrid.

They all nodded and began to walk towards the castle. There was a long pause in the conversation after that when Ron noticed something that seemed unusual about the bird when they had been there.

"He was awfully quiet wasn't he?" said Ron cluelessly.

Ginny burst out laughing at his revelation, "Ron you idiot! They don't make any noise until they die!"

Ron's cheeks tinged a light red at that, "Oh . . . right."

Hermione choked down a laugh at the look of embarrassment on his face.

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The healing of the Jobberknoll was very successful. It took a while before it would leave, almost a month precisely from the 1st of October, was when the bird flew away fully healed.

Hermione was very happy to see the bird free, but still couldn't help but feel sorry to see it go on October 29th during Care of Magical Creatures. She had grown rather fond of it, but so had just about everyone.

Hagrid seemed particularly devastated to watch the sweet little bird as it took flight during that Care of Magical Creatures class on that fateful 29th of October.

OooOooOooOooOooO

The first quidditch game of the year was on the day of Halloween; Slytherin versus Hufflepuff, and of course, Slytherin won. Hermione was the only of her friends in the stands (Ron, Ginny, and Lavender) rooting for Slytherin, but she didn't mind.

"So, what do you guys want to do now?" asked Hermione as they walked leisurely along the grounds after lunch.

"Well, I think that there won't be anything particularly exciting to do around here, so why don't we go to Hogsmeade?" suggested Ron. Even though it was a school day, they were given the day off for some long deserved fun.

"That sounds fine," said Lavender passively.

The four approached Filch and he checked off their names for Hogsmeade and then they were on their way.

"The first thing I'm going to do is go to Honeydukes and get some more sweets," said Ginny.

"I agree! My reserves are running dangerously low," Lavender added like tragedy would strike the moment her sweets ran out.

"I'm going to Fred and George's shop first, then I'm going to Zonko's, I'll meet you guys at the Three Broomsticks later," said Ron.

Hermione's mind wandered to what she would do. She could go to Honeydukes with Ginny and Lavender, she could go with Ron to visit Fred and George at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and then to Zonko's, then to the Three Broomsticks, she could go to the book shop, or to visit Madame Rosemerta in the Three Broomsticks first, but what she really wanted to do was go back and check on Draco, who she knew was back at the school and was still denying any problems in his life. She had told him she would visit later, but she didn't want to be in Hogsmeade when she could just go straight there.

"Phoenix?" said Ron seeing her not quite there with them.

"Huh?" Hermione was broken out of her reverie.

"Where are you headed to?" he pressed.

"Oh! You know, I think I'll go with the girls for now. I should certainly stock up so I don't run out of things either," said Hermione making up an excuse, but thinking of the secret passage back to the school that she could sneak to from Honeydukes.

"All right, that's a good idea, I'll meet up with you guys later then," said Ron mysteriously happy about the sentiment, waving his goodbye as he made his way to the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop near the back of the Wizarding village.

Hermione, Ginny, and Lavender made their way inside of the sweets shop, which was unsurprisingly full of people.

The three of them made their way over to where just about every girl had congregated near at one point or another: the Chocolate Section, and Hermione had to admit, that she was tempted to get some things . . . after all, her secret stash truly was dwindling.

So after a minute debating about what she needed to resupply, she grabbed what she wanted and walked up to the register and paid.

She walked over to where Ginny and Lavender were still deciding what to buy. "Umm, hey girls. I think I'm going to go back to Hogwarts, I have some important stuff that I forgot to take care of," she said thinking of a quick excuse that wasn't a lie. And it wasn't a lie, she needed to check on Draco and make sure that he was okay, that was the top most priority to her, so that was definitely important . . . at least to her it was.

"Okay, Phoenix. We'll tell Ron where you are when we see him at the Three Broomsticks. See you later," said Ginny as she and Lavender went back to their shopping.

"Thanks, bye you guys!" said Hermione waving and discreetly making her way towards the back where the storage room was and slipped in unnoticed by all.

She pulled a couple of boxes out of the way to reveal the trap door that led back to Hogwarts. She lifted it and slid inside of the dark tunnel.

"Lumos," she whispered as she pulled out her wand and continued walking. She felt as though something was off as she continued the trek back towards the school.

That's when she heard something up ahead. "Knox," she whispered urgently and held in a sigh as the light flickered out immediately.

"Who's there?" called a voice she recognized, but couldn't place at the moment.

She saw a light along the wall and noticed that someone was coming towards her. "I'm only going to ask one more time, who's there?"

Hermione instantly remembered the only other person that could have known about this passage. "Potter?" she asked tentatively.

Her assumptions were confirmed then as he stepped in front of her and lowered his invisibility cloak and held the Marauder's Map firmly in his grip. "What are you doing here? How did you know about this place?"

"That's not important, but why would you be going through this way?" she said quickly wondering at his antics when it was perfectly safe and legal for him to take the road.

"I asked you first," he said authoritatively wondering still how she could have known about this secret passage, but shrugging it off for the time being.

"Because I didn't want to be bothered by anyone on the way back. Now tell me, why are you going this way?"

"Same reason," said Harry with a light smirk at the irony of their situation.

"Well, by no means let me stop you," said Hermione as she gestured to let him pass.

"Not so fast, you never answered my second question, I never found out how you found out about this secret passageway," he said crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow in question.

"And I can assure that I did answer it. I told you that it's not important," said Hermione smugly repeating his movements and crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

It was a silent battle to see who would back down first as they stared each other down and then Potter shook his head finding that he was growing bored of the mute feud.

"I'll let you go for now, but I swear I will find out," he said standing aside to let Hermione pass, then smirked and sarcastically added as an after thought, "Ladies first."

"Watch it Potter," said Hermione as she walked by, "I don't take too kindly to being mocked and insulted."

"And don't I know it?" he said mock seriously, rubbing his hand over the barely visible burn scar she had given him for show, and ducking just in time to miss her hand aiming for the back of his head.

"Get moving Potter, wouldn't want your fan club thinking you've gone missing or been kidnapped, it would start some nasty rumors you know . . ." said Hermione trailing off, turning around and walking off before he could come up with a come back.

She just realized, that despite the bantering, they had actually held a semi-civil conversation.

She shook the thought out of her head as soon as it came.

After she slid out of the statue and quickly closed it, she made her way towards the Head Common Room. She hoped he was there, because she wanted to put an end to this facade he was putting up. His behaviour had grown very unusual according to Padma who was becoming increasingly more and more worried about Draco as time passed.

Hermione said the password that Draco had told her (Leadership,) and stepped inside. There was no one in the room, but Hermione could hear water running in the distance and figured that Draco was in the shower. She saw his Philosophy book on the coffee table in front of the fireplace. She was very tempted to take another look at the book and see if Draco had written anything new since she'd read it at the beginning of the year on the train.

She sat down, then looked up at the bathroom door. 'Good, he's still in the shower,' she thought as she picked up the book and sat down on the couch. She sat there thinking about whether or not to open the book or just wait for Draco and confront him about it.

At that moment, she could hear the water turn off and so she just decided that she would wait for him to come down and confront him about what she had already read. She heard the door open and turned around quickly to be greeted by the sight of Draco with nothing on, but a towel around his waist, but noticed something looked off, but she couldn't quite place it.

She blushed, swallowed hard, and then looked down.

"Hey Phoenix I'll be down in a minute," he said noticing the girl on the dark leather couch below and continuing into his room.

"O - okay . . ." she said taking a deep breath. 'It's only Draco, Mione . . . in a towel . . . looking very good indeed . . . Shut up!' she silently berated herself for having the audacity to check out her best friend especially when she had a boyfriend.

About two minutes later, Draco came down in a pair ofblack jeansand awhite long sleeved turtleneck. (A/N: don't ask me why, but I seriously think he'd look SO _good_ in a turtleneck!)

"Hey Draco," said Hermione, having finally gained her composure now that he was fully clothed.

"Hey, what's up?" he said.

"Nothing much, I told you I was going to come by, so I'm here," she explained distractedly.

"I can see that," he said taking a seat. He noticed the book resting on her lap and said, "I see that I've caught you with my book once again."

"It seems you have . . ." said Hermione wondering how to broach the subject of his notes in the section about pain. "But I wasn't reading it this time, just remembering something I'd read in it last time."

"You mean from the train ride?" asked Draco realizing that she wasn't going to leave him alone until she found out what he was hiding.

Hermione nodded.

Both of them took deep breaths realizing that something was about to happen that would bring their friendship closer or tear their friendship apart, and both could tell they were ultimately hoping for it to make them better friends rather than the latter option.

Draco closed his eyes and took in a decisive breath after the long pause, "What part were you reading?"

"Uhh . . . well, I uhh . . . I . . . read the uhh part about . . ." Hermione stammered now not quite sure if she wanted to reveal what knowledge she had previously indulged herself in during that train ride.

Draco came to her rescue quietly, "Pain? Don't worry about it . . . I had a feeling you would read it . . . I think that's probably why I left it in there."

"But . . . why me?"

Draco knealt in front of her and rolled up the sleeve of his white, long - sleeved shirt to reveal a neat column of cuts and scars about two centimeters in length each. They extended all the way up to his elbow, the ones closest to his wrist looked the freshest, like it had only been made within the last few days.

Hermione was horrified at what she was seeing. She looked into his eyes and saw that they were pleading for help, but quickly clouding over. She gingerly touched one of the scars near the center of his arm.

She was rendered speechless and only looked into his eyes questioningly.

He rolled down the sleeve and sat down next to her with his head in his hands. "This is what I've been hiding from you for two months, even longer for everyone else. You're the only person I trusted enough to show this to. I'm sorry to put this on you, but I need your help, I can't deal with this on my own anymore . . . It's gotten out of hand."

Hermione swallowed hard and looked down at her hands laying lifelessly on her lap, "Umm . . . yeah . . . yeah I'll help you . . . just let me know how and I'll do what I can."

"Thanks," he said with a small smile and he took her hand in his subconciously.

"Anytime," said Hermione feeling even more confused now about Draco Malfoy than she had at the beginning of the year and giving his hand a reassuring squeeze in return. They were spared the discomfort after a few moments of silence when the entrance opened and Padma walked into the room.

She smiled at the two knowingly at their close proximity. "Hey, Draco," she called out to him just as she was heading into her bedroom, "Dumbledore wanted to speak with you and I for a moment in his office. And Dallas, Ron asked if you'd come down to the Great Hall and have dinner with him or some such thing."

"Okay . . . thanks Padma," said Hermione standing along with Draco and exiting the room hastily.

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"Ron, Padma told me that you wanted to see me?" asked Hermione as she walked up behind him.

"Oh, yeah! Hey, come with me," he said taking her hand and leading her somewhere.

"Ron, where are we going?" asked Hermione hoping for some clue as to where they were going.

"I've got something that I wanted to show you, Phoenix," said Ron continuing to pull her along for some unknown reason.

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Harry wondered where Ron had gotten off to, he'd been acting really weird on his way back from Hogsmeade, and so he took out the Marauder's Map.

"I solemnly swear thatI am up to no good," he said as he tapped his wand to the parchment. He looked for Ron's mark, and saw something unusual about the room that it was in.

Quickly, Harry was seen making his way to the classroom where he saw Ron's name. He hadn't realized that Lavender and Ginny were following him to make sure that he didn't do something stupid.

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She'd realized that sometime during the month of October, Ron had been acting very curiously, like he too had seemed been hiding something from her. 'Why must everyone hide something from me, and then at a most inopportune time, tell me what it is?' she thought as Ron pulled her into an empty classroom.

"Ron, what is this all about?" asked Hermione, wondering why he would be wanting to take her to some abandoned classroom. She smirked at his nervous fidgeting, "Honestly Ron! If you wanted to snog me, you could've just done it anywhere . . ." Hermione knew that wasn't the reason, she'd told him right up front that she didn't believe in kissing on the lips unless they were in love, and he agreed quite readily.

Ron cheeks tinged with red, and he said indignantly, "I know Phoenix! But that isn't why I brought you up here!"

Hermione knew how he felt about affection, she had felt very much the same way, they had never even properly kissed in the whole two months they had been together, on the cheek . . . a fair few times; on the hand . . . once maybe twice, and that's what was so humorous to her.

She began to laugh, "Relax! I was only kidding Ron! I know you wouldn't want to take me here just to get a good snog," Ron's embarrassment was amusing to her especially when she remembered that it was the same way when she and Harry were together, not one single kiss anywhere except the cheek, and a few times on the hand, and he was still the very same way about it.

She immediately mellowed out though as she recalled the thought that she had just had . . . Harry . . . she needn't be wasting her thoughts on him. "What is it you have brought me here for then?"

"Oh, yeah, right . . . I wanted to give you something," said Ron rummaging through the cabinet for something. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands," he said as he saw what he'd been searching for.

Hermione complied and felt as something was put into her hands gently.

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Harry looked at the map yet again to make sure that his eyes were not deceiving him. And indeed he saw that they were not failing him as he had supposed.

'Just a bit further, and I will find out what _exactly_ is going on here,' he thought to himself.

Ginny and Lavender were wondering what on earth was going on, but still followed quietly behind him.

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"Okay, open your eyes Phoenix," said Ron eager anticipation evident in his voice.

Hermione opened her eyes quickly to see something there she had not been expecting. "Oh Ron! How did you get this?" she asked as she held in her hands, a brand new broom, and not just any kind of broom . . . it was a Firebolt.

"Fred and George owed me a favor, and so I told them to pull some strings and get you one," said Ron proudly. "What do you think of it?"

"It's wonderful Ron! Thank you!"

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He heard a conversation taking place.

"It's wonderful Ron! Thank you!" called the female voice.

Harry took one more step and saw something he had been expecting even less.

Ginny and Lavender were even more curious now by the look on Harry's face and took the remaining steps to the door where they saw Phoenix and Ron, which really wasn't anything new to them. They immediately began to wonder if perhaps Harry had lost it.

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Phoenix pulled Ron into a hug.

"Hermione?" questioned a voice from the doorway.

Hermione instantly pulled away from Ron to look at the voice of the person who had just ruined her cover.

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Harry looked at the map one last time and could see beyond any shadow of a doubt, that this was no trick. Suddenly everything that had seemed entirely too strange about her behaviour this year made complete and total sense. Why she'd slapped him when there seemed to be no reasoning behind it, why she knew where everything seemed to be even though she played dumb every now and then, how she knew absolutely everyone already just as she had known them.

"Hermione?" he questioned to the figure hugging Ron.

As she pulled away rigid with shock, his question was answered.

"Hermione!" the other three shouted in total shock at the same time.

'What on earth is going on?' all four of them thought as they looked upon the girl who had been so deceptive and mysterious to them all . . .

A/N: That's all for now! If you want to see the next chapter soon, you're going to have to do it the old fashioned way . . . REVIEW!


	12. some more changes

Disclaimer: I'll try not to give you the impression that I am J.K. Rowlings, but I can't make any promises!

Thanks again to all of my wonderful reviewers! I'm sorry that this chapter is so much shorter than the last two chapters, but you'll just have to accept this for now, but I was at least thinking about what was going to happen this chapter because it's just after that major turning point. I'll just stop talking now and let you read!

Previously on Phoenix Flames

Harry looked at the map one last time and could see beyond any shadow of a doubt, that this was no trick. Suddenly everything that had seemed entirely too strange about her behaviour this year made complete and total sense. Why she'd slapped him when there seemed to be no reasoning behind it, why she knew where everything seemed to be even though she played dumb every now and then, how she knew absolutely everyone already just as she had known them.

"Hermione?" he questioned to the figure hugging Ron.

As she pulled away rigid with shock, his question was answered.

"Hermione!" the other three shouted in total shock at the same time.

'What on earth is going on?' all four of them thought as they looked upon the girl who had been so deceptive and mysterious to them all . . .

Chapter 12 - Some More Changes

The only thought running through Hermione's head at that point was 'Holy shit! This is NOT happening!'

Ron looked at the girl before him in shock, then to Harry, then to Hermione again, "Harry what are you talking about? This isn't Hermione. It can't be. . . Hermione's dead remember?"

Harry looked at Hermione and said to her the three main questions going through his mind at the time, "Why on earth would you do this Hermione? Why would you need to hide? Why did you lie to all of us?"

Hermione sighed, "I wanted to tell you, really I did . . ."

The three onlookers nearly died of shock at the confession and stood rooted to their spots to see what would happen.

"Then why didn't you?" Harry said, his voice totally serious.

"I'm not allowed to, I was forbidden to tell anyone because I could put myself at risk," said Hermione still skirting around the real issue; what had happened to cause this sudden change to herself? She paced around the room being followed all the while by their eyes and had the strange impression of the presence other watchful eyes.

"At risk of what?" said Lavender, having finally found her voice.

Hermione hung her head in defeat and said, "I couldn't risk being discovered. I really didn't want to hide, but I was given no other choice."

"Discovered? By who? Who or what could possibly be so dangerous to you that you would have to change and lie about who you are?" asked Harry. Hermione could tell he was just a little more than upset about the whole situation. Ron andGinny still were completely shocked about the whole thing, and she couldn't tell whatLavender was really feeling.

"Anyone, everyone . . . I don't really know who, but there are spies everywhere for him," said Hermione shutting the door knowing she was probably going to end up having to explain everything to them before they would let her leave.

"Who? Voldemort?" asked Harry not caring about the flinching of the other three at the mention ofYou-Know-Who's name, "But we already basically know that you couldn't trust anyone in Slytherin then, so why hide it from everyone else?"

"No, not Voldemort!" said Hermione also not caring at the flinching of the others, "Why on earth would I be friends with Draco if it was Voldemort, even if he probably won't become a Death Eater? I'm not talking about Death Eaters here, I'm talking about the Black Widows and Jack Willis!"

"Who?"Harry, Ron, and Ginnyinquired simultaneously while Lavender just stood stalk still and listened to the conversation.

"I'm not sure if I should be telling you all of this, but I've a feeling you won't let me go until you do." At Harry's sharp nod Hermione continued seeing that there really wasn't a way out of this anymore, "The man who killed my parents and nearly killed me by shooting me three times!" Hermione's eyes grew dark and cruel at the mention of that man, which frightened the others very slightly causing them to shift uncomfortably.

"Black Widows though? Who the hell are they? Why haven't we ever heard of them before?" asked Harry.

"They are a gang thatmy parents belonged to. I'd never heard of them either until I was in the hospital three days later. It seems that they are very much about keeping quiet about who they are and what they do . . . kind of like the mob or something . . ." Hermione explained.

"But, why would you have to go undercover? Wouldn't that mean it was a muggle gang and that you're safe in the wizarding world?" asked Ron finally.

"You would think so yes, but it turns out that Jack is a wizard and there are a lot of wizards in the gang, in fact, very little of the gang is of the muggle persuasion.Anyways, they have spies at the school . . . probably their kids, I don't know because it's all very hush-hush with them."

"But why are you undercover?" pressed Harry impatiently.

"I was going to get to that Harry!" said Hermione growing somewhat agitated with his antics, "Well, when my parents were killed, I nearly killed Jack and two of his buddies with my powers; so that would cause any person in their right mind to probably want to try and kill me too. Well, considering the fact that those gunshots were fatal, and I'm not dead, he would begin to suspect that I was more than a mere muggle. He tried to convince the court of that, but he was still sent to jail considering it was a muggle court and they have very little indication that even being a real witch is possible outside of mythology and cartoons."

Harry opened his mouth about to try and get her to make her point, but she cut him off. "I'm getting there, don't rush me. So anyways, Jack was more than pissed that his secret was uncovered and that I was able to get away from him, so he made a public announcement to his gang that I was to be hunted down and killed. So I had to leave muggle London because it was safer in magical London for the time being. But I still wasn't safe enough and a lot of circumstances had changed since the death of my parents. So I had my identity and appearance changed and convinced everyone that Hermione Granger, was dead so it would just be easier to get on with life."

"What circumstances?" askedLavender suspiciously.

"Well, like my being a phoenix for one, my parents putting me into the Protection Program for two, finding out that Snape is my uncle for three which would put both him and I in trouble with not only the Black Widows but the Death Eaters as well, having to sever all ties with everyone close to me for four, having to learn and adjust to the story that the Protection Program gave me and making sure that I had cover stories for any slips that me or any of the teachers might have for five, having to change my style so that I would have an easier time of not being Hermione for six, and having to try and control my powers for seven, but those are just the most important ones," said Hermione ticking them off on her fingers.

All of their mouths had almost quite literally dropped to the floor at the mention of Snape being her uncle (except Harry, whose jaw had dropped at the mention of her being a phoenix, having not known about it himself.)

The room was in a tense silence for a long while of the four of them trying to register everything she had just told them.

Harry was the first to speak, "A phoenix? You . . . you're a phoenix?"

"Yup."

"And all the teachers already knew about this?" he continued, causing the others to finally figure out why Hagrid and Hermione had looked so tense at that little slip up at the beginning of October.

"Yup."

"And Snape is your . . . uncle?" asked Harry mortified at the very concept of that thought.

"Yup. That seems to be the way of things . . ." said Hermione looking at Harry as though expecting him to speak once more, but instead got the shock of her life as he burst out laughing.

They all looked at him as though he had grown another head. "Harry, have you lost your marbles?" asked Ron.

Harry calmed down enough to say, "I can't believe it . . . Snape! Of all people, Snape is Hermione Granger's uncle!" He immediately began laughing again and this time all of the others joined in having realized the hilarity of that statement.

Hermione was the first to stop laughing and wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes, "You guys, he's really not that bad!"

"Sure Hermione, whatever you say," said Ron sarcastically.

"Hermione, it's so good to know you're alive!" said Harry pulling her into a hug and completely forgiving anything that she had said and done since September.

"Uh . . . thanks Harry," said Hermione quietly, caught off guard at his sudden warmth towards her.

"Um, I don't mean to ruin them moment or anything, but could I please talk to Hermione . . . alone?" asked Ron signaling that they should leave.

The other three all nodded, knowing what was probably going to happen, and left. Hermione also could figure out what was coming next.

"So . . ." said Ron trying to break the ice and get it over with.

"So . . . I guess this kind of changes things now huh?" said Hermione hurrying him along so she could go and finish up her homework that she had neglected.

"Yeah, kind of . . ." he said fidgeting. "Look Hermione, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you're like my second sister, and I really don't think that I can date you anymore, you know?"

"Ron, I know exactly what you mean. You're like a brother to me, but I wanted you to be the one to figure out that we really weren't meant to be, considering it could have blown my cover otherwise," said Hermione and then noticed the Firebolt still in her grasp and began to hand it to him.

"Keep it! Goodness knows you'll need it if you're even going to attempt to take on Harry or Malfoy or Ernie in quidditch, and besides, I _did_ get it for you. Think of it as a REALLY late birthday present," said Ron pushing the broom back to her.

"Ron you're the best friend a girl could ask for," said Hermione excitedly hugging him, giving him a small peck on the cheek and running back down to the Ravenclaw common room.

As she entered the common room, she was greeted by Terry Boot.

"Hey Dallas, what's up?" he said casually.

"Not much, just got a present from Ron," said Hermione holding her Firebolt with pride.

Terry nearly choked, "A Firebolt! Wow, that's great! The other teams will barely stand a chance against us now," Then he looked her in the eye and said, "So things are going pretty well with Ron I take it?"

"Oh yes, things couldn't be any better! We just broke the relationship off because we realized that we were more like best friends anyways, so now we're just best friends and nothing more," said Hermione wondering what his point was.

"Really? So would you mind if I asked you a question?" he said becoming somewhat nervous.

"Um . . . sure Terry, ask away," said Hermione already knowing that he was about to ask her out. 'Just what I need . . . another boyfriend . . .'

Terry looked shy for the first time ever since Hermione had known him, "Would you like to go out with me?"

"Sure Terry . . . why not?" said Hermione not having the heart to tell him that she really didn't think they would work out for very long and that she didn't really like him in that way because love was non-existent to her anyways.

"Great, I can't believe it! I thought you would have said no," said Terry like he had just asked for the hell of it.

"Just remember not to assume things about me Terry, that'll get you in trouble with me faster than you can say quidditch," said Hermione as a caution.

"Sorry . . . I'll remember that, I'm going to go tell the guys if you don't mind," said Terry kissing her cheek and running over to his friends talking excitedly with them.

"I'll see you later Terry," she said waving to him. He nodded her way and Hermione sighed and shaking her head as she walked up the stairs. 'I'm going to have to pull him aside and explain to him the 'Granger's Guide to Dating' and really, really soon . . .' she thought.

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A/N: Next chapter you'll hear about the alleged 'Granger's Guide to Dating!' and please, if you want to flame me about this chapter for some reason, go right ahead! Anyways, review… PLEASE!


	13. a granger's guide to dating

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter but do own A Granger's Guide to Dating (well not technically because it's my mom's until I actually start dating . . . but you get the picture . . .) so please don't sue!

A/N: Be aware of the movement of time in this chapter, the choppiness of the transitions, and also be prepared for yet another boyfriend switch. Also, make sure to review! So without further ado, here is the next installment of Phoenix Flames. REVIEW!

Chapter 13 - A Granger's Guide to Dating

Hermione woke up early the next day (November 1st) and groaned as she recalled that she was now dating Terry Boot as of last night. She opened her eyes blearily and shut them immediately after seeing it was six thirty in the morning. 'I'm in for it now... Terry has a certain notoriety for his concept of moving his relationships along as fast as he possibly can,' at this thought her eyes flew open and she jumped out of her bed. 'Thank God I kept it with all my school supplies . . .' she thought as she knelt down by the trunk at the foot of her four poster bed and began rummaging through it.

After five minutes of tireless searching she grabbed the object of her hunt from the bottom of the chest. She fell back onto her bed with a triumphant smile as she looked at the familiar title: A Granger's Guide to Dating_ (Revised Edition)._ She opened the book that held all the rules her parents had taught her about dating and raised her to believe with all of her heart.

She had been given this book after fourth year when they heard about Viktor Krum (even though she'd already had all 125 rules memorized by that point in time, and she wasn't dating Viktor either,) and she always kept it with her since then. There was absolutely no point in telling him (Viktor) about it since nothing amount out of their short lived "relationship" anyways. She also knew there was no need to show Harry or Ron because they were always perfect gentlemen to her and each 'romance' was purely platonic anyhow. But she felt she would need to use it now and very soon.

She pushed the need to show this to Terry aside and got up thinking, 'I wonder whose up . . . I need to get breakfast before quidditch practice, so I guess I'll find out shortly. Maybe I can visit Draco if he's awake . . .'

With that in mind, Hermione quickly grabbed her robes and outfit, and made her way to the bathroom to take a shower and brush her teeth and hair. She then pulled on her white undergarments, socks and tank top followed by her light blue jeans and slipped on her zip-up, hooded, angora jacket that faded from periwinkle blue on top to medium blue on the bottom.

After pulling on her school robes, she rushed into her room, grabbed her white shoes and hair tie, and made her way down to the common room. All the while she was pulling her shoes on and holding her hair piece with her teeth, nearly tripping down the stairs, making a very comical scene if anyone were to have seen it.

It was only then she realized that she forgot her wand and broom (which she was quite sure she'd need if she wanted to attempt playing quidditch that day.) She ran up to her room and grabbed them and ran back down to the common room once again.

'It's so quiet without everyone in here . . .' she thought as she walked to the entrance.

Before leaving, she held her Firebolt between her knees, and pulled her hair into a messy bun, and then grabbed her broom and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Just as she was entering the Great Hall, she spotted Ginny and Lavender making their way down the stairs with the boys shortly in tow.

When they saw her they waved and Lavender called, "Hey Her-" The others quickly silenced her before she could say more and Lavender got the point.

They made their way to Hermione and Lavender guiltily said, "Sorry, I forgot . . ."

Hermione smiled, "That's all right, just be more careful from now on, I can't afford to have my identity uncovered. Everyone else is hopefully still completely clueless about me, and we need to keep it that way, so please don't slip up again . . . No one else can know who I am . . ." that last part was said in a whisper just as somebody walked by.

They walked into the Great Hall none the wiser about the two pairs of eyes watching their every step.

! a Week later in an empty classroom !

"Hey Dallas!" said an eager Terry Boot as he sat down next to her attempting to give her a peck on the lips, but she turned her cheek to him. "I got the note that you wanted to talk to me, what's up?"

"Listen Terry, we need to talk. I want you to read something really quickly. Accio guide!"

As soon as the book landed, Terry picked it up and began to read aloud. "A Granger's Guide to Dating_ (Revised Edition) . . ._

**This revised edition of A Granger's Guide to Dating gives all boundaries to any romantic relationship and should be followed accordingly to permit maximal efficiency in searching for a future spouse. Although there are no punishments for breaking the rules, these rules are meant to help build a meaningful relationship by restricting physical intimacy so as to learn whom is worth pursuing and what kind of relationships should be avoided. Physical intimacy can cloud one's judgment about who people really are and can hold a bad relationship together. So without further ado, this is the compilation of one hundred and twenty five dating guidelines for a healthy and fruitful relationship.**

1. no relationships until the age of sixteen

2. no polygamy

3. no sexual contact of any sort

4. no discussing previous sexual experiences

5. no speaking about future sexual experiences (even if engaged)

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38. no touching beyond hand holding and hugging

39. no public displays of affection (except for hand holding and hugging)

40. no official dates for the first week of the relationship

41. no dates of any kind until all work is done

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73. no being alone together until two to three weeks from the initial beginning of the relationship

74. no being alone on dates until complete trust is gained by both parties

75. no being alone at night (unless otherwise required)

76. no being alone in each other's bed rooms for the first month

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119. no kissing for the first two weeks of the relationship

120. no kissing anywhere except the cheek or hands (until love is declared by both parties)

121. no declaring love until it is really meant

122. no declaring love for at least two months from the beginning of the relationship

123. no dating for more than three months unless both parties would seriously consider marriage as a future option

124. no propositions of marriage until both parties are out of school

125. no propositions of marriage before the age of eighteen . . ." Terry trailed off as he finished the long list 20 minutes later. "What does this have to do with anything Dallas?" he was clearly confused.

"Well I'm a Granger too, I have followed these rules for my whole life until this week because of you, and I would rather I could go back to the old way . . ." Hermione explained.

Terry looked as though he would blow a fuse anytime now, "But Dallas, you're _not_ a Granger by blood, you don't have to be a prude like Hermione was just because they raised you. This stuff is psycho bull shit!"

Hermione did everything in her power not to burn him to death or punch his lights out. She took in a deep breath, "Granger or not, I follow these rules Terry and if you want to keep going out with me, you will honour my wishes. And don't ever insult Hermione in front of me ever again."

Terry didn't seem to be getting the picture and began moving closer and closer to her, "Dallas someone who's as hot as you are, really shouldn't be so prim and proper . . ."

He was uncomfortably close to Hermione at this point and she gulped as he pulled her closer to him. It was all she could do to keep from killing the sodding bastard at that point.

"Besides, I highly doubt you follow these rules exactly . . . there's no way you're a virgin . . . You probably just like to say you follow those rules just to seem pure and innocent. Probably because you know that most guys find that really incredibly hot. Why would you ask me here otherwise? I bet you anything that is you just let loose a bit and stop being like this you and I would -"

"Do you really want to finish that sentence Boot?" asked a voice from behind them. They turned towards the door to find Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy glaring at Terry.

"Sod off! I bet you two are just jealous because I'm going to get into her knickers be-"

SMACK!

Everything went suddenly very quiet as Hermione slapped Terry and said, "Fuck you Terry! We're definitely over with . . . I'm just surprised it took you this long to fuck it up! Just know that after this moment, I don't ever want to talk to you again." Hermione stormed out of the classroom hoping to God that she burned the bastard at least.

She decided to go sit out by the lake to cool down, Professor Rubar would understand if she was late.

! Back in the classroom !

"Hey Drake, I think I'm going to go talk to her, she looked pretty pissed," said Blaise to Draco about a minute after Terry left.

"Okay, let her know I'm sorry about what happened with Boot, and I'm probably going to be kicking his ass anytime now if I can get away with it . . ." Draco said while glaring daggers after the aforementioned person.

"Will do," he said beginning to leave.

"And Blaise?" Draco waited for him to turn around, "Don't leave her alonewhether or notshe decides not to go to class all right?"

Blaise nodded and with that, he left.

! Back at the lake !

Hermione noticed a figure walking out of the castle and approaching the lake. She quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes on her sleeve. Who was that? She studied the person and squinted to try and make out their very Italian facial features. She could recognize the hair and the way that the person carried himself ashe walked.

It was Blaise Zabini.

"Phoenix!" he called out as he approached.

"Yeah, what is it Blaise?" she asked politely.

"I just came out here to check on you, and I come bearing a message from Draco. He says that he's sorry about Terry and there is an ass kicking session about to take place in honor of you. So how are you doing, I mean are you okay?"

"I'm fine . . . hey would you help me up?" asked Hermione stretching out her arms to him.

He easily lifted her and they began walking back towards the castle.

"So what class are we late for?" he asked in a business-like tone.

"Well, for me it is Ancient Runes Level 5, for you . . . the hell if I know . . ." she said shrugging.

Blaise chuckled and said, "How about we skip the class for today, I'm sure you're probably really upset about the whole thing with Boot, and you look like you could do with some time away from classes."

Hermione was about to instantly reply with no, but realizing that she was too upset to concentrate very much, she decided to do something she would never dream of doing in a million years, "Okay."

"Wow, I'm surprised you didn't flip out over my suggesting that . . . from what I heard about your sister, I would have thought you'd have thought it sacrilegious to skip out on school . . ."

Hermione shrugged, "Normally I'd agree with you, but I think you're right, I could use some time away from class. I wouldn't be able to do much in the way of translating my book right now."

"Okay, so where would you like to go?" he asked offering his arm, which she took hesitantly.

"Let's just walk around the grounds for now, it's chilly but it's a really nice day out."

"Yeah, it is that . . ." after a long pause and much walking he continued to talk gently squeezing her hand for reassurance, "So how is quidditch practice going?"

"It's great, I never thought flying and quidditch would be so fun, but I'm really glad now that Draco taught me how to fly. Ravenclaw team is doing really well so far . . . we have a pretty strong team. How about you? You're on Slytherin's team aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm the keeper. I'd rather have been a chaser, but our team was in desperate need of a keeper and I happen to be one of the only Slytherins that could block a quaffle to save their life."

Hermione chuckled lightly at that, "Yeah, but you guys had a great first game. So obviously someone must have done something right in choosing the new team members."

"That they did, and it was Draco who chose, he only let the very best on."

There was another pause then he added, "Doesn't Ravenclaw have a match on Sunday?"

"Yeah against Gryffindor."

"You have a lot of friends on that team, you ready to take 'em on?" he said playfully.

"I was born ready," said Hermione with fire in her eyes (literally.)

! Back to Draco !

"Mr. Malfoy, are you sure you don't know the whereabouts of Ms. Turoe? She's twenty minutes late!" exclaimed Professor Rubar.

"Professor, the only thing I can tell you with certainty is that she had an incident this morning and is probably blowing off some steam right now, I think Blaise is with her though, so she's fine," said Draco silently thinking, 'Blaise you numbskull! You'd better not be making a move on her!'

"Very well, please continue with your translating," said the Professor sighing and walking into his private office.

Draco continued working away and counting the minutes until Advanced Charms.

! Back outside near the end of class !

Hermione and Blaise were having, in Hermione's opinion, the most intelligent and stimulating conversation she'd ever had with anyone other than a teacher or Draco. She was really enjoying having someone to talk to about different and random things.

As the bell rang signaling that class was over, Blaise asked suddenly, "Hey Phoenix, I know that this is very sudden and you're just getting off of a relationship, but would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Hermione considered for a second, and noticed that she was still holding his hand after almost an hour and dropped itfeeling slightly weirded out that she hadn't even noticed it until then, 'Well, I promised I'd go out with anyone so long as I was available, and I'm comfortable aronud Blaise, so it shouldn't be too mush in the way of being problematic. . .' "Sure, Blaise, that'd be lovely."

"Great! Hey let's get going to Charms," said Blaise taking her hand in his once again.

Hermione sighed quietly, 'Here we go again . . .'


	14. secrets exposed

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and I don't intend to anytime soon (even if I wish I could . . .)

Author's Note: I'm SOOO sorry if this chapter really sucks, but I've been so busy and I'm just trying to get something out for now even though I only have three reviews for the last chapter. Please review!

Chapter 14 - Secrets Exposed

'So she's really Hermione Granger under cover . . . interesting . . . I knew something was off about her. The only question is: what am I going to do with this knowledge? I could report it since that's what I've been told to do . . . Or I could actually try to help her by hiding her identity from everyone else. I really need to think about this . . .'

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"Hey Draco?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah Phoenix?" he replied looking up from his work.

"Would you come with me? I wanted to show you something . . ." she said having just had an epiphany. "But you might want to change first."

Draco, noticing what she was wearing, went to his room to grab something similar. "All right, let's go then," he said and then began walking through the halls.

They walked up two flights of stairs and took an abrupt left down a corridor Draco had never noticed before, then they continued to the end of the corridor and stopped.

Draco noticed a grandfather clock that appeared not to work. 'Curious . . . there are no doors down this corridor . . .' "Uh, Phoenix . . . where exactly are we?"

Hermione took out her wand and changed the clock's time to 3:00 and then replied, "Follow me, we only have ten seconds . . ." She proceeded to the beginning of the now circular corridor where there was now a door on the right hand side just where the 3:00 spot would be on a clock.

After stepping through Hermione began explaining, "That corridor is a portal to twelve different rooms. Each room is designated for certain people. I happened to get one because I was getting to the point that I was going to punch somebody's bloody lights out . . . so naturally, Dumbledore saw fit to give me a place where I could relieve stress without trying to hurt other people."

Draco finally looked at the room they had just entered and realized that they were in fact standing in a gymnasium. "This is great Phoenix, no wonder you've been keeping in such great shape . . ."

Hermione stepped forward and said, "I figured that this might be able to help you . . . I've been trying to figure out ways to, and this quite literally just came to me. And hey, it's worth a shot right? Especially after I took all of your knives and stuff from you. I can tell you've been going nutters since then," she then turned around and looked at him.

"Thanks."

"Well, what are we standing around for? Let's get started shall we?"

Hermione began jogging the perimeter of the gym after setting her robes to the side and Draco quickly caught up to her.

"So who are the other people that have access to these rooms?" asked Draco.

"Well . . . Harry, Ron, and Ginny have the room for 5:00. Padmaand Parvati Patil have12:00 I think. Uhh . . . the Ravenclaw quidditch team practices in the 9:00 room when the field is unavailable. Other than that . . . I don't know."

"Oh." They ran for about seven minutes before Draco talked again, albeit rather winded, "How much longer are we running?"

Hermione looked down at her watch, "Oh, has it already been seven minutes? We'll stop once we get to the door. I make it a point to run at least two kilometers every day. Sometimes I forget to look at my watch though, but my kilometer is somewhere around three and a half minutes."

"Not bad . . ."

"Well, we're done," she said finally.

"Good, I haven't run like that in a long time," said Draco as they stretched out.

"That's a shame. Running is a really good stress reliever. My trainer back in Texas used to make me run as much as ten to twelve kilometers."

"Oh." After about a minute of silence he continued, "So how much do you normally work out?"

"Two hours on weekdays, three on weekends," she said standing and walking over to the supply room, followed immediately by Draco.

"Go ahead and work out on whatever you like. You can use anything you can find in here, just make sure to put it back where you got it when you're done." She grabbed her grips and headed out to the uneven parallel bars.

Draco watched her out of the corner of his eye from the punching bags. 'God, she's amazing. Who'd have thought beneath that tough exterior she was a gymnast.'

Hermione did her routine a few times and then went over to a little box that magically scored her routines each time and let her know what to work on. She then made her way to the balance beam and went through some drills before going through her routine.

Draco, by this time, had moved on to the free weights. He watched Hermione with pride all the while.

After about an hour, Hermione walked over to Draco. "Hey you want to help me? I need a sparring partner."

"Uh, sure."

They walked over to the sparring ring and began. And frankly, the match was even between the two of them. So Draco did something completely unexpected seeing that neither of them would win this challenge. He charged at her, grabbed her around the waist, and easily flung her over his shoulder.

"Hey! That's not fair Draco! Put me down!" she said laughingly.

Draco chuckled and set her down as he said, "You're no fun Phoenix . . ."

Hermione then tackled him to the ground straddling his hips and holding his arms down by his head.

"And you say _I'm_ unfair!" said Draco in mock indignation.

Hermione tried to look at him sternly and then dissolved into a fit of laughter.

"What, may I ask, is so funny?" said a male voice from the doorway.

Hermione looked up to see none other than Blaise Zabini, her boyfriend of two and a half weeks. "Oh, hey Blaise. Just kicking Draco's butt and laughing at his sparring tactics," she said getting up and helping Draco up as well.

"I see . . ."

"So what's up Blaise?" asked Draco nonchalantly.

"Just here to work out. Don't mind me."

"Okay. Oh, hey Blaise, guess what?" called Hermione.

"What?" he yelled back as he ran around the gym just as they had.

"I got a 9.4 on bars today!"

"Really? That's great!" he said proudly.

Hermione, Draco, and Blaise continued to work out for forty-five more minutes and then they called it quits. After Draco left, Blaise called to Hermione.

"Hey Phoenix could I talk to you about something?"

"Sure Blaise what is it?" said Hermione as she joined him.

"I'm not exactly sure how to broach the subject . . ." he said honestly.

"You mean about what happened between Draco and I? Blaise, I'm really sorry about that, but he and I are -"

"-Just friends. I know. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about though . . ."

"Oh," she said relieved, "Then what is it?"

"Listen . . . I know your secret."

"What secret? I have loads of secrets, you know that . . ." she said fearing she already knew which secret he was talking about.

"You know which one I mean Hermione."

Hermione was about to respond but then she realized what he'd just said; even though she could say she was expecting it, she was in shock. "But, how?"

"Well, you remember when Lavender nearly divulged your secret like three and a half weeks ago? I was watching the whole thing."

"Oh . . . but there's something else isn't there?"

"Yeah. Well, you know how you were warned that some of the kids here had parents in the Black Widows? I'm one of them. And I was told to watch for you and report back to the inner circle if I found out anything -"

"Oh Blaise you can't!" Hermione lamented.

"Hermione, you don't honestly think that, me being your boyfriend and having known your identity since before that, that I would just give away your secret do you?"

"Blaise you're the best!" she exclaimed as she hugged him. "But why won't you be telling?"

"Truthfully? I hate Jack Willis . . . I hate what he's done to my family. I also hate what he did to you and your parents. No one deserves what you've had to go through. I don't want any trouble for you on my account. You're too sweet and kind for anyone to do that to you. I care too much to let anything else happen."

"Thank you so much," she said and then kissed him on the cheek as a friendly gesture. "Oh! Look at the time! I have loads of homework to get done! Goodbye Blaise," Hermione hurried back to the Ravenclaw Tower and did homework until about midnight.

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For the next three days Hermione, Draco, and Blaise repeated the workout pattern. Blaise always walked in on something similar happening between Draco and Hermione each time.

! Dec. 1 after work out !

"Hermione, we really need to talk."

Hermione could tell what was coming just by that phrase alone. "Yeah Blaise?"

"There's something that's been on my mind for three or so days now. Every single day I have walked in on you and Draco in what I could probably consider compromising positions. Now I know you two are just friends, but I can also see how much you two care for one another. I'm not jealous or anything . . . far from it actually . . . I'm very happy about the two of you having such a deep bond. And I know that you will deny all of this, but it has to be said. You're falling for him . . . you just don't see it yet . . . and I'll let you figure that out on your own. What I'm trying to say is that I think we need to break up. I want you to be truly happy with whoever you are with, and I can tell that we are just meant to be friends. That is, if you still want to be . . ." said Blaise rather quickly.

"Oh . . ." said Hermione trying to process all the words. She smiled, "Of course we can still be friends."

"Good, I was hoping you'd say that."

"And you're wrong . . . Draco and I are just friends . . . I'm not falling for him as you said."

But as Hermione fell asleep that night, she couldn't help thinking, 'Am I?'

Author's Note: Okay, I'm sorry if that really sucked, and that it was so short, but I just wanted to get something out for now. PLEASE REVIEW!


	15. dangers of playing with arachnids pt 1

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure you know I don't own anything you recognize from Harry Potter, and if you don't know. . . I feel for you. . .

Author's Note: I'm SO sorry the last chapter was so short! Hopefully this chapter will make up for it! Please read and review! The minimum of 5 per chapter still stands people!

Previously on Phoenix Flames:

_"Hermione, we really need to talk."_

_Hermione could tell what was coming just by that phrase alone. "Yeah Blaise?"_

_"There's something that's been on my mind for three or so days now. Every single day I have walked in on you and Draco in what I could probably consider compromising positions. Now I know you two are just friends, but I can also see how much you two care for one another. I'm not jealous or anything . . . far from it actually . . . I'm very happy about the two of you having such a deep bond. And I know that you will deny all of this, but it has to be said. You're falling for him . . . you just don't see it yet . . . and I'll let you figure that out on your own. What I'm trying to say is that I think we need to break up. I want you to be truly happy with whoever you are with, and I can tell that we are just meant to be friends. That is, if you still want to be . . ." said Blaise rather quickly._

_"Oh . . ." said Hermione trying to process all the words. She smiled, "Of course we can still be friends."_

_"Good, I was hoping you'd say that."_

_"And you're wrong . . . Draco and I are just friends . . . I'm not falling for him as you said."_

_But as Hermione fell asleep that night, she couldn't help thinking, 'Am I?'_

Chapter 15 – Dangers of Playing with Arachnids (pt. 1)

Hermione was growing agitated with all the guys who kept hitting on her, even when she was supposed to be unavailable. But she was even more frustrated that the moment someone broke up with her, the entire Hogwarts male population already seemed to know about it. Then it was a fight to see who could get to her first to lay claim on her.

The two and a half months following her break up with Blaise had her dating a new guy almost weekly. Some couldn't last for a week though because they had become friends with her in the duration of the year, like Seamus, Neville, Colin, and Justin. Others still shared the same views as Blaise had expressed like Dean and Su. While others were nearly killed by Hermione with some of the brazen things they said and did, like Ernie.

After breaking things off with Ernie, there came a much-needed resting period in Hermione's joke of a love life. Apparently, word had spread that she was impossible to break and she wouldn't put out. The general interest in her decreased quite a bit, at least from most of the guys… there were still some that wanted her, but lacked the guts to ask her out. She figured Ernie had spread the word about the ugly nature of their break up, and the guys who were out to corrupt her had backed away from her quite fast.

She finally had time to think, particularly about a certain platinum blonde Slytherin Head boy. . .

OooOooOooOooOooO

"Hermione?" asked Lavender, who was waving a hand to get her attention. "Are you listening to me?"

Hermione shook herself out of her reverie, "Sorry Lavender, what was that?"

Lavender could see that she was still distracted and took advantage of the other girl's ignorance with a mischievous smile she plunged ahead, "I said, I haven't heard of you and Malfoy being caught in compromising positions recently, is the rathernon-obscure love affair over? That's a shame, you guys are so cute together."

"Oh! No… I haven't had time for that lately what with school work and all…" Hermione was very obviously not paying attention to what she was responding to. Although, after a moment's thought she realized what she had just said, "Lavender! What a cruel thing to do. What gave you that impression in the first place? Draco and I are just friends and nothing more."

Lavender smirked, "Then why are you daydreaming about him constantly? I know you are because every time I mention him, you get this weird far off look."

"I do no such thing. I happen to have a lot on my mind as of late. Now, can we get back to the conversation we were having before you side tracked?"

Lavender looked at her knowingly, "Ron and Harry told me you broke things off with that Ernie bloke yesterday and that you haven't been asked out by another one of your entourage quite yet. I'm glad; he was bad news for you just like the rest of them. Not to mention Ernie would have cheated on you if you'd stayed with him much longer.

They went silent as they heard two sets of footsteps passing. Ginny walked up to them and said, "Hey guys." They said their hellos and waited for the other footsteps to cease. Once they were certain they had gone, Hermione said darkly, "Ernie's just lucky I didn't kill him. . . course, Draco and Blaise saw to that. All I know is, if anyone ever has the nerve to be like him, they're in for a world of pain from me. And next time I see Ernie, he'd better hope there will be someone there to prevent me from punching his bloody lights out; or burning him to death."

"Slytherins. . . were protecting a Hufflepuff. . . from a Ravenclaw? Oh that's rich! I wish I could have seen that," said Ginny laughingly.

"The only reason they did it was because they don't want me to get expelled. They would rather I had – Professor McGonagall. . . what's the matter?" asked Hermione seeing that the Deputy Headmistress approached the trio in the back of the library.

Tight-lipped and pale, she said, "Come with me Miss Turoe." Without any more warning she walked towards the exit. Not sparing another word, Hermione followed McGonagall to the Headmaster's office.

"What's going on Professor McGonagall?" Hermione inquired again.

"I cannot tell you precisely what is going on since I'm not sure myself. I can only tell you this: If an opportunity presents itself, get out as soon as you possibly can," she said walking off after giving the password to the stone gargoyle.

Hermione walked up the circular stairs and with no forewarning, opened the door to his office, "Headmaster Dumbledore, you requested to see m-" Dumbledore stood aside, "-You!" Hermione instantly recognized the man clad in expensive black designer clothes. "What could you possibly want from me?"

Chuckling darkly, he moved to her side, "Now, Hermione is that anyway to treat a member of your family?"

Hermione glared at the man, "You are no family of mine. You gave up that right about fifteen years ago. I have to go Headmaster, I don't feel comfortable being in this room right now, it's not safe for me in here."

Dumbledore looked at the girl gravely, "I am afraid Miss Granger that you must leave with him immediately."

Mouth agape, Hermione said, "Headmaster, no! Surely there must be something that can be done to stop this!"

He sighed in defeat holding the release form out to her, "Unfortunately, I am completely powerless to prevent anything like this from happening now."

Hermione looked over the paper to see that it was in the Wizarding Witness Protection Program mandate to hand her over to any family member that asked it. In Hermione's case it had to be anyone more closely related to Hermione than Snape. . .

"Come on Hermione, your things have been gathered already by the house elves," said the man indicating that he was leaving and it would be well advised of her to not dawdle any longer.

Hermione nodded wordlessly and followed. Once down by the Great Hall, she was approached by Lavender, Draco, Blaise, Harry, Ron, and Ginny (who had been acting strangely lately around her.)

"Phoenix, what is going on? Where are you going?" asked a worried looking Lavender.

The man in black glared at her and answered for Hermione, "I am with the agency that adopted Miss Turoe out to the Grangers. However, now that her family is dead, we are returning her to her real family, her biological parents have been searching for her for five years."

"What!" exclaimed an outraged Ron trying to hide his knowledge of Hermione's identity, "She's an adult, doesn't she have any say in this?"

"Ron, it's okay. . . really," said Hermione giving them a pointed look even though four of them knew perfectly well that the whole story they were just given was a lie.

Sullenly, the duo walked away to the awaiting carriage outside. Once they were safely inside the carriage, Hermione rounded on the man. "What the hell is your problem? How dare you come back now!"

"How dare me? How dare you, disgracing my name like this! I'm disgusted to even know you with who you've been associating with," said the man as though Hermione had soiled the Granger name.

"I disgraced our name? I'm not the one who abandoned my family fifteen years ago! I'm not the one who broke mum and dad's hearts by joining up with Scorpions!" Hermione crossed her arms and looked away from the man, as the carriage began to move.

After about a minute of unbearable silence the man spoke, "Look. . . Hermione. . . I'm sorry for all of that, but you've got to understand something. I was approached by Jack Willis fifteen years ago, and he threatened to kill me if I didn't join up with the Black Widows. I didn't want to get involved seeing what happened to so many people if they wanted to get out. The Scorpions approached me and offered to protect me, but at a cost. I had to leave you guys, but I also had to get mum and dad out of the Widows and make sure that you never associated with anyone from the Black Widows, Death Eaters, the Scorpions, or any other magic gang. I took that promise to heart, and I've been watching you ever since, but now I have found need of your cooperation. . ."

This did nothing to quell Hermione's anger, "You have been spying on me for all of these years? My own brother, and you couldn't even give me the slightest indication that you were alive? And to top it off, you just took me from the only home and family I have left, to ask me to cooperate with you?"

"I don't have a choice. Listen, you brought this on yourself as soon as you started associating with that Death Eater spawn, but what really did this was your befriending that Black Widow spy. My boss ordered me to get you out of there until we could guarantee the Black Widows would be unable to touch you."

"I was perfectly safe there! None of the Black Widows even know I'm alive!" Hermione looked him straight in the eye. "I can take care of myself without you or your gang's help."

"Really. . . if they don't know you're alive, then why are they out looking for you again? Are you really that naïve to think that they wouldn't have figured out who you were? Especially with that Black Widow spy constantly tailing you all the time."

"Blaise is my friend. He would never betray my trust!" Hermione said, outraged with her brother.

Her brother looked at her strangely, "Blaise. . . you think I'm talking about Blaise."

"Yes! Who else could you possibly be accusing? I don't know any other Black Widows than Blaise."

"Is that so. . . Well I would have thought that you could figure this one out on your own, but I guess I was very wrong indeed. . ." he said with an air of superiority.

She knew he was baiting her. . . and it was working, "Jeremy, wipe that damn smirk off your face and just tell me who you're talking about already!"

"Are you daft woman? You mean to tell me that you couldn't sense her spying on you and she's been there the whole time? She's only been acting strangely around you ever since she found out who you are."

It couldn't be. . . Hermione refused to believe such a preposterous notion. "You can't seriously be accusing Ginny Weasley of being a Black Widow spy!"

Jeremy sighed heavily, "You really can be thick sometimes, not even seeing what's right in front of your face. . . no it's not Ginny Weasley. She doesn't have an evil bone in her body. You really should have been more careful about who you keep around you as a friend. She weaseled her way into your life and is trying to destroy it and you can't even see past her bubbly personality and happy exterior. . ."

Hermione was really getting agitated with her brother's jumping all around the answer, "Jeremy, tell me who it is before I punch your bloody lights out!"

"Dear, dear Hermione. . . I can't believe you didn't figure it out yet. . ."

"Jeremy!"

"Fine. . . there's no need to yell. It's your other friend-"

Despite the fact that he was toying with her, Hermione finally figured it out and cut him off, "-Lavender Brown. . ."

"I see it finally clicked. . . now are you willing to cooperate with me?"

Too shocked at the revelation to speak, she nodded her head slowly. She couldn't believe that one of her friends sold her out to the people trying to kill her and she didn't even see it.

Her eyes flashed with fire the longer she sat there. The only thought on her mind was, 'You are going to pay Lavender. . . don't ever doubt that. You best be watching your back from now on. . .'

OooOooOooOooOooO

Hermione arrived back at Hogwarts just after supper still very much in shock over her most recent discovery.

She had always wondered why it always felt as though someone was watching her everywhere she went. Part of that was true in the sense that Jeremy had been watching her from the side lines. But he was not the potentially harmful presence she always sensed and watched out for. It had in fact been one of the people she happened to have trusted most. She realized then that Snape had been right . . . she _didn't _know who she could trust.

A/N: I bet most of you weren't expecting that! Well, please review cause I'm more inclined to update really soon!I already have the next chapter ready (it's over 4,000 words,) and it'sgoing to have a lot more explanations that you'll want; so once again, REVIEW!


	16. dangers of playing with arachnids pt 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. . . obviously. This chapter is going to be considerably longer than the last few (it's over 5000 words now) and more intense and dramatic nearer to the end, so be prepared for that.

Last time on Phoenix Flames:

_Despite the fact that he was toying with her, Hermione finally figured it out and cut him off, "-Lavender Brown. . ."_

"_I see it finally clicked. . . now are you willing to cooperate with me?"_

_Too shocked at the revelation to speak, she nodded her head slowly. She couldn't believe that one of her friends sold her out to the people trying to kill her and she didn't even see it._

_Her eyes flashed with fire the longer she sat there. The only thought on her mind was, 'You are going to pay Lavender. . . don't ever doubt that. You best be watching your back from now on. . .'_

_OooOooOooOooOooO_

_Hermione arrived back at Hogwarts just after supper still very much in shock over her most recent discovery. _

_She had always wondered why it always felt as though someone was watching her everywhere she went. Part of that was true in the sense that Jeremy had been watching her from the side lines. But he was not the potentially harmful presence she always sensed and watched out for. It had in fact been one of the people she happened to have trusted most. She realized then that Snape had been right . . . she didn't know who she could trust. . ._

Chapter 16 – Dangers of Playing with Arachnids (pt.2)

Hermione didn't wantto be bothered with possibly dealing with Lavender for the time, so shehad horded herself into the Ravenclawgirls' bedroom to mull over her newest predicament. Shesensed a pair of eyes watching her, but brushed it off as Jeremy staying to the sidelines and observing her so she wouldn't be harmed by anyone. She inwardly smiled at his instinctual protectiveness but was also curious how he'd gotten passed the stairwell when it was charmed not to let any male pass. She figured it was probablyhim floating above them or some such nonsense . . . (she'd been informed by pretty much every single one of her past boyfriends that the stair mechanism would only work if you were actually on them and so if you were floating above them rather than walking, they would be none the wiser about the male intruder.)

'What am I going to do? I know I need to do this for Jeremy and myself. . . but I can't bring myself to do it. It goes against my very nature as a human being.' Hermione then thought bitterly, 'But I am not a human anymore. . . I'm a phoenix who just found out there is a traitor in my circle of friends. I have to do this. . .' Hermione steeled herself against her more human instincts seeing as she was going to get nothing done if she felt guilty about what she had to do.

Suddenly, the Ravenclaw girls burst into the room in a flurry of excitement intruding on Hermione's sanctuary.

"Dallas, you will never guess whatParvati Patiljust told us!" Sally-Ann squealed.

"I don't know, what did she just tell you?" she inquired boredly.

"Apparently, Ron asked Padma if she would go with him to the next Hogsmeade visit with him. And guess what happened?"

"She said yes?" Hermione was getting tired of the mindless chattering of gossips and added, "Well, it's been fun girls, but I need to get to the library for something."

"Okay, bye Phoenix! Have fun!" said Mandy.

Hermione sighed the moment she was out of ear shot and walked to her secret refuge. . . the 3 o' clock room (instead of the library because they wouldn't be able to find her then)after she had received a note from a passerby that the Ravenclaw team wanted to get a late night practice in before their match against Slytherin. She was going to have to take her mind off of things, and that was just the ticket to forgetting her problem. When she walked in, she found that Blaise and Draco were present and sparring with each other. She smiled at the two _very_ sweaty shirtless males and began to jog the perimeter as noiselessly as possible. She ran for her usual two kilometers and walked back to the store room trying to avoid alerting the other two of her presence.

She had just turned around to grab her grips for the bars when she felt someone lift her off the ground from behind and her phoenix side immediately kicked in trying to burn whoever had the audacity to surprise her, to a crisp. She felt whoever had grabbed her, let go of her and say, "What's the deal with you? You're really tense today. . ." Hermione smiled at Blaise (as she floated in the air rather than tumbling unceremoniously to the ground) as he looked at her with concern.

"It's nothing Blaise; I'm just really stressed out with the stuff I've had to do lately. You know . . . school and stuff," she let herself down to thefloor gracefully.

"Okay Her- Phoenix, if you insist . . . but you know I'm going to get it out of you eventually. You know you can't resist my masculine charms," he said pompously.

"Oh stuff it Blaise. I'll let you know I can easily resistyour _'masculine charms'_, and everyone else's being as I'm not exactly human. Not to mention you're a big push over as far as me getting my way, so don't threaten me when you know you can't get past my defenses like I can get past yours," she said walking up to him and poking him in the chest.

"So when you two are done flirting with each other, can I steal Blaise back? I was just kicking his ass in sparringnot evena moment ago and I'd really like to finish," said Draco making his presence in the room known.

"You can have him, I don't want him," she said playfully. "Anyways, I need to work my routines and stuff since I haven't even practiced in a week or so." She walked over to the uneven parallel bars and began doing her routine looking very obviously distracted to the observant onlooker.

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Blaise and Draco walked back to the sparring ring.

Draco looked at her and made to go over and talk to her but was stopped by an arm crossing his path. He looked at Blaise, "What? I'm going to talk to her; she doesn't look to be doing too well right now."

"Let her cool off first or she might get a little miffed at being disturbed. And you know what happens when she gets that way. So are you going to let me finish kicking your butt or what?"

"Ha!" said Draco as they resumed their sparring match, though neither were quite as into as they were before with the new concern for Hermione and their constant watch over her to make sure she was okay.

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Hermione had moved on to the punching bag by the time Draco left for Head boy dutiesand the guys had called their match a draw. She was so into giving the bag a beat down that she never noticed Blaise walk up and restrain her hands so she couldn't punch the bag any longer.

"Let me go Blaise," Hermione struggled only for a little while and then quit seeing that Blaise wasn't going to leave her alone until she talked to him.

"I'll let you go, but I want answers. What's got you in such a right state today?"

"You won't understand so why should I tell you?" she said in her last line of defense.

"Don't give me that crap Hermione. You should be smart enough to know by now that you can tell me anything and I will do my best to help and understand. We can even have a little sparring match if that makes it any easier for you to talk to me," he said with a smirk knowing her increasingly violent nature wasn't being taken out effectively because she had no time to get into the 3:00 room lately.

"I just might take you up in that," said Hermione walking to the center with Blaise and they began sparring as she talked about what was troubling her. "There are two things really. One, I can't kill any of my most recent boyfriends because that wouldn't be very nice, and I'm frustrated with the whole of the Hogwarts male population. They won't leave me alone . . . I mean, hell, I've almost covered the ten most attractive guys in Hogwarts this year aside from Snape and then some. I've even covered all six of the other lists with the exception of him."

Blaise stopped for a second and smirked, "You think Snape is hot? He's your uncle and a teacher for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione groaned in frustration, "NO! That's disgusting! I was referring to the lists in the Ravenclaw seventh year girls dorm with the ten males the girls think are 'hot' (Hermione winced at the term finding it barbaric and completely uncivilized) and I've dated almost every single person on this year's editionpretty much, and almost every single guy on the previous six minus Snape, who by some miracle happens to be on all of them," then Hermione punched at him seeing he was off guard, but he caught her hand before it made contact with his face.

"I see. So am I on the list?" he said with an infuriating grin that Hermione wanted to wipe off his face.

She caught him off guard and tackled him to the ground and he kept the smile on his face, "Funny, I remember this being how I always catch you and lover boy . . . I must be on the list if I get that kind of reaction out of you when he gets the same, and there's no way he's not on it."

Hermione got up and helped him up muttering something that sounded remarkably like, "bloody arrogant sod." They took a fighting stance again and Hermione continued with her anecdote, "Well, that is the least of your concern. Anyways, that isn't really the problem, but it is an annoyance."

"Ah, so now it's on to the real problem," he said sounding remotely like a psychiatrist she had seen once when she was younger and began showing signs of having 'unusual powers.'

Hermione punched him in the stomach then, "Yeah, the real problem. Well, you know my brother stopped by today-"

"I didn't know he was your brother, but continue." He took a swipe at her and she blocked it easily.

"Well, he told me he's been spying on me ever since he left my family to join the Scorpions approximately fifteen years ago. And then he has the audacity to show up and expect me to listen to him like a good little girl," Hermione ducked a punch and tried to undercut Blaise, though he had anticipated this and jumped out of the way.

"Hermione you're stalling. Get to the point already," he said getting her left leg (as she began moving her leg back into a squat) and pulling so she fell and he pinned her down by holding her arms by her head and sitting on her legs.

"Fine. Lavender Brown is a Black Widow spy and reported that I'm alive. And now I have to infiltrate Black Widow territory and convince them somehow that Lavender was lying . . . after I kill her and any other spy at the school of course, except you. And if that doesn't work, I'm supposed to kill the lot of them so I can stay safe."

"That's messed up. I didn't even know Lavender was involved at all. I was more suspicious of Ginny than Lavender for being against you. And are you certain you can trust this guy?"

"That's how I felt. And yes, he's my brother. Now I know you probably like this a little too much for your own good, but would you kindly get off of me so I can get circulation back into my legs and arms," said Hermione pushing him off of her unceremoniously.

Blaise gave another infuriating smirk when they were both standing up again, and said, "I win."

Hermione smacked him in the back of the head saying "git" under her breath.

"My, my, what ever did I do to deserve such a sound tongue lashing from you? I never knew you felt that way before."

"Well, my, my, aren't we just full of ourselves today?" she countered. "Now if you don't mind, I need to find the quidditch team because we're to be practicing tonight so we can royally whip you in the upcoming match," she said as she left him standing in the room momentarily until he caught up with her.

"You can have your little fantasy Granger, but don't count on beating us. I'm sorry to ruin the dream, but it just isn't going to happen for you guys."

"Ha! Just keep your silly little delusions of grandeur to yourself Zabini! I really won't mind wiping that smirk off of your face come game time." Hermione walked off towards the quidditch pitch assuming that was where her teammates would be since the pitch was reserved for them.

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Blaise went by to visit Draco in the Head boy / Head girl dormitories. "Hey Drake, you in here?" he called up towards his bedroom. He heard rustling up there and no reply, so he knew that Draco was probably doing something that he shouldn't be. (A/N: Keep your minds out of the gutters people!)

Blaise walked into the bedroom to see Draco throwing things all over his floor in search of something. "Drake, what are you doing up here?"

"Um, it's my bedroom. I was looking for my Head Boy badge since Padma was complaining about the fact that I wasn't wearing mine."

"Is that all?" asked Blaise, completely unconvinced by the argument having known Draco to mutilate himself for some twisted way to let off stress. Blaise grabbed Draco's left arm causing him to stop looking for the object of his hunt.

"Blaise, she took all of my knives and sharp tools so I couldn't keep on doing it. That's why she showed me the 3:00 room when she did because I was going bloody mental," said Draco yanking his arm away from his only other friend in the world aside from Hermione.

Blaise was looking at his friend's arm in shock. Draco caught the glance and looked at his own arm then back at Blaise. "What's got your knickers in such a twist Zabini?" he joked hoping to avoid the questions which were coming.

"How long have you known about this?" he was still in a right state of shock.

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Hermione had made it out to the pitch not seeing anyone flying yet so she guessed they were all in the locker rooms getting changed. (She was a bit earlier than she usually was for practice anyway, so they wouldn't be expecting her quite yet.)

She quietly slipped into the changing room and heard the shower running. 'Strange, people don't usually take showers before practice, do they? It kind of defeats the purpose of it.' "Hello?" she asked quietly.

Hermione felt as though something was amiss with this situation in general (and it wasn't just the fact that the air was thick with steam.)

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Blaise was just leaving Draco's room when he saw Padma walking towards him in the hallway. "Hey Blaise," she said nonchalantly passing him by to go into her common room.

"Hey," he said in return finding it odd to converse with her even in the simplest of formalities. It wasn't until he caught sight of the lone figure walking towards the quidditch pitch that he remembered Padma was on the quidditch team. "Hey, doesn't Ravenclaw have practice tonight for quidditch?"

"No, it was cancelled since Su is sick, why?" she said peeking her head out the door, which she had been about to shut.

"Oh, are you sure?" said Blaise feeling a twinge of anxiety in the back of his mind.

"Yeah, otherwise I'd be at the pitch right now. Why do you want to know?" she inquired suspiciously with narrowed eyes.

"Shit!" he cried unceremoniously. "Get Draco and tell him I need to see him please. It's urgent."

"Whatever," she said disappearing into the Head common room.

Blaise didn't have time to wait around and find out if she had done what he'd asked. He needed to get to the quidditch pitch because something seemed very wrong about the given circumstances.

He heard someone running behind him and could only assume that Draco was following him, which was confirmed when he heard, "Blaise what's going on?"

"Something's not right . . . I think she's in trouble."

"Who is?"

"Who do you think you dunderhead?"

"Shit!"

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Hermione heard the water turn off almost immediately after speaking aloud.

Suddenly the room went dark and Hermione could feel a very bad presence in the room. "Who's there?" she attempted futilely. She could feel her phoenix personality beginning to take over and gladly let it. "Come out you bloody coward . . . whoever you are."

Hermione could vaguely feel the presence moving around the room hastily like it was trying to throw her off, but they weren't going to be able to get to her that easily. "Lavender, if that's you, I'm going to kill you!" She could feel her blood heating up at a rapid pace.

"Lavender? Ha! Oh that's rich! Hermione, you honestly think that twit is smart enough to lure you out here like this? She's the one who went and got herself caught by that oaf you call a brother at the very start of the mission! But not me, you haven't even suspected me from the very beginning even though every indication was there that I couldn't be trusted, but you never paid me any mind," said the mystery girl.

Hermione could feel her extra power kicking in and could finally see through the darkness with the light emanating from her body as it became enveloped with her inner fire. "Where are you at?" asked Hermione, not seeing the presence of the girl anywhere, but still feeling it. "Show yourself!" she commanded. Seeing that no one would be moving anytime soon, she got very angry.

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Draco and Blaise arrived in time to see one of the locker rooms lit by a sickly reddish-orange glow that was very apparently unnatural.

Both assuming the worst, rushed in to see that Hermione was not in trouble as they had assumed, but looked as though she were being engulfed by flames and very angry, and truth be told, quite unlike herself.

Neither would have recognized her were it not for the phoenix tattooed across her back as she was now encompassed in what looked to be robes of pure fire. Her hair was reminiscent of light with a silky smooth texture. She would have looked exceptionally picturesque were it not for the look of complete and total repugnance that crossed her face.

Something wasn't right about this scene though. They both felt as though she looked ready to kill at that moment, which would in turn get her expelled, sent to Azkaban, or even killed herself (if she wasn't careful.)

They called out to her asking her to stop.

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In her enraged state, a heat wave spread through the room and she heard a shriek of agony coming from one of the changing stalls paying no heed to the shouts she was hearing from Blaise and Draco, which were completely drowned out by the feminine screaming.

Her eyes narrowed in the general direction of her would be attacker, and she shot another heat wave in that direction as she began walking towards the person. Hearing another satisfying shriek, Hermione shot a much stronger heat wave this time around causing the room to look as though it were melting from the intensity of the fire.

But Hermione didn't hear that satisfying shriek as before.

She finally peered around the corner that was separating the two of them and to see a large shield of glacial water, but before she could see anything more, the shield was thrown at her and she howled in pain with the frigid water encompassing her body as the inner fire in her was vanquished in an instant leaving her completely defenseless.

The strange thing was though, that she was completely dry (with the exception of her hair, which was back to its normal colouration brown with red and blonde highlights, just completely soaked) . . . but there was a massive amount of steam coming from her body.

"Thought you could beat me did you?" asked the mystery person finally walking out of the shadows to Hermione's horrified gasp. "You didn't consider one thing though . . . I'm an elemental! A water elemental if you want to get more specific. It's so easy to render a human phoenix incapacitated if you can stop their inner fire once it gets hot enough."

The person turned to leave, but turned back with a cruel sneer on their lips.

"I could easily kill you right now if it weren't for my orders to leave you alive and helpless and just let you die on your own. Because, funny fact, did you know a phoenix can't use it's powers if it can't keep it's blood warm enough; and if you can't get your temperature back up soon, you can very easily die because your body will be in major shock because it can't heat itself up fast enough. And judging by the state you're in right now, I'd say that won't be very long now."

She turned her back and just as she was about to disappear through the door she said, "See you in Hell Granger." And with a maniacal laugh, the figure of her newest enemy disappeared from view.

Hermione felt like the very life force from her body was dying as she lay on the ground gasping for air and shivering as the mist continued to seep out of her body. She had the distinctive impression that she would be dead once the vapors stopped, and prayed that it would just happen soon so she wouldn't continue to feel the immense and painfulthrobbing she was feeling at the moment.

Now she understood how Draco felt when he would cut himself. It was a strange sort of peace that filled the body, and all of the pain would just subside for a moment of mental, emotional, and spiritual clarity unlike any she had ever felt before. It was then that she realized that she had almost killed someone just because she had felt threatened. She would never have done that if her temper hadn't gotten the better of her, even though the other person was clearly out to kill her.

Her thoughts then shifted to Draco. She had caused him so much pain, and to top it off, their entire relationship was based on a lie. Even if she did realize that she cared for him now as more than a friend, he most certainly wouldn't feel the same if he knew of her deceit towards him.

It was in that moment that Hermione closed her eyes and gave up on living any longer . . .

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Draco and Blaise waited to make sure that the new villainess would not see them move before they went to Hermione's side.

It was almost cliché, the scene they had just witnessed . . . a tragic heroine falling to an enemythat everyonewas completelyunaware she even had; and then just being left there to die like some insignificant speck of dust.

Bothof them grabbed one of her hands and observed the bluish tinge that had overtaken her skin. Neither of them thought that she felt very cold, but then again, they knew she was always much warmer than the average person.

"What are we going to do Draco?" asked Blaise as they both watched her slowly losing her will to fight to stay alive.

"I don't know Blaise. I didn't even know that she was _that_ vulnerable to the cold."

They both stared helplessly at Hermione as her breathing became shallower by the minute.

Neither of them had noticed the fourth presence which had arrived. "Perhaps, I can be of some service to you?" voiced someone they immediately recognized.

"Professor Snape? What are you doing here?" asked Draco who was still in the dark as far as most of Hermione's secrets went.

"That is of little consequence right now. What I need to know is what happened here?" he said taking quick strides to reach his only niece.

Blaise answered, "A water elemental attacked her. She was a member of the Black Widows that even I didn't know about."

Snape looked in concern as the billowing smoke clouds began thinning out considerably. "Both of you go to Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick now and tell them what has happened. Tell them to get to the hospital wing immediately and get Professor McGonagall and Sprout, they'll be with either of them." They looked at him as though he were crazy at the mere suggestion of leaving. He grew impatient, "NOW!"

That did the trick as they both leapt to their feet and ran as fast as they could to get to Dumbledore's and Flitwick's offices.

Snape looked down at Hermione, "Hold on child. You must fight or we won't be able to save you." He deftly scooped her up and raced into the hospital wing.

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Blaise made it to the gargoyle statue in record time and shouted the password, "Butterscotch!"

"Headmaster Dumbledore! Professor McGonagall" said Blaise hunched over to collect his breath. "Hermione was just attacked by a water elemental. Snape took her to the hospital wing and asked you to meet him there. She's about to die!"

They needed no further explanation and, with expediency far beyond their years, rushed to the hospital wing followed closely by Blaise.

They were soon met by Draco and Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout, all of which were rushing as well in the same direction.

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No pleasantries were exchanged upon reaching the hospital, just a nod between the five adults who stood in a circle around Hermione (who was laid on the floor and barely holding on.)

Draco and Blaise just stood on the sidelines and watched what was about to unfold, held back by Madame Pomfrey rather needlessly. The five clapped twice and began an intricate kind of ceremony that consisted of moving their arms in elaborate patterns demonstrating four very different styles of fighting, yet staying completely in sync with each other. The air tensed as silence reigned in the room. In a final motion, the adults grabbed each others' hands and raised them and began chanting in a strange language that neither of them (Blaise and Draco) had ever heard:

"**_Wij nodigen de elementen uit, sparen haar leven_**

**_Wij nodigen de elementen uit, bescherm haar ziel."_**

Dumbledore continued with_, **"Breng terug het levens kracht."**_

"_**Breng terug de energie van brand aan haar bloed,"** _added McGonagall.

Then Flitwick said_, **"Breng terug de sterkte van aarde aan haar lichaam!"**_

"_**Breng terug vitaliteit van wind naar haar mening,"** _was Sprout's addition.

Snape finished with, **_"Breng het reinigen aan haar geest met water."_**

They all spoke in unison again:

"**_Wij nodigen de elementen uit, _**

**_Zuiver de kwaden die haar hebben geraakt._**

_**Wij nodigen de elementen uit, **_

**_Spaar haar leven!"_**

And with the silence that echoed following the chant, Hermione began to glow. And then something neither of them (Blaise and Draco) had expected, she caught fire. The adults dropped their hands to their sides and watched in the ever present silence.

This shocked Blaise and Draco and they were about to intervene, and then they noticed that the teachers were now looking at them oddly. Apparently they had made quite a protest and they hadn't even realized it.

"Gentlemen, I can assure you that Miss Turoe is going to be fine. You may come back tomorrow if you wish to see her then," said Madame Pomfrey, shooing them from the hospital wing.

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Blaise and Draco looked at each other questioningly. "What the hell was that?" they inquired at the same time.

"That, dear boys, was an elemental healing ritual," said Professor Dumbledore from behind them.

Dumbledore chortled as the two jumped at the sound of his voice.

"An elemental healing ritual?" questioned Draco flatly.

"Yes, it requires four master elementals, one from each element, and an overseer, who can control all of the elements," seeing the questioning looks on their faces he elaborated, "That chant that you heard in there is one of the oldest and most powerful elemental rituals known to wizarding and mankind alike. It originated in the Netherlands but has only ever been performed one other time in history sincethen. Therehave only been four other master elementals before the four Heads of House. And that was by the Hogwarts founders while they were still getting along. Of course they were overseen by none other than Merlin. You read about that in History of Magic I'm sure. But the point is this: to save any elemental that has been attacked by another elemental, they need to be temporarily infused with all of the elements so the imbalances in their body can be realigned."

"They're elementals?" both were stunned never having expected there to be so many elementals in Hogwarts.

"Yes."

"Professor, she will be all right . . . won't she?" asked Draco not knowing whether to fully believe Madame Pomfrey's words or not.

He looked down at them with sad uncertainty, "I'm afraid that is something that even I could not tell you Mr. Malfoy, as I don't know. It's up to her now as to whether or not she'll survive. Now, I must ask you a very important question. I need the identity of the water elemental that attacked Miss Turoe."

Blaise responded, "Well, at first we thought it was Lavender Brown, but it was someone far more powerful than that. It was . . ."

**A/N**: I know, I am completely evil, cruel, and sadistic in taking so much pleasure out of a cliff hanger like that one, so sue me! Just make sure you review and I'm happy.

So what is it that Draco knows about? And 100 brownie points if you can figure out whom the water elemental attacker was in your reviews . . . any ideas? I don't know if anyone will get it, but good luck! Here are a few hints though, it isn't Ginny, or anyone in Slytherin, it's obviously not Lavender, and no, the person _isn't_ using Polyjuice Potion!

Just for reference, McGonagall is a fire elemental, Snape is water, Flitwick is air, and Sprout is earth, and Dumbledore can control them all (the elements that is,) but not to the degree of mastery like the other four can. Now I bet most of you are wondering what on earth that spell meant in English. Well, here's the translation from Dutch to English:

"**_We invite the elements, save her life_**

**_We invite the elements, protect her soul_**

(Dumbledore) **_Bring back her life force_**

(McGonagall) **_Bring back the energy of fire to her blood_**

(Sprout) **_Bring back the strength of the earth to her body_**

(Flitwick) **_Bring the vitality of wind to her mind_**

(Snape) **_Bring cleansing to her soul from the waters_**

_**We invite the elements,**_

**_Purify the evils that have touched her._**

_**We invite the elements,**_

**_Spare her life!"_**


	17. the phoenix awakens

Disclaimer: If you thought I owned Harry Potter, (at any point during this entire story,) you need therapy!

Author's Note: I'm so sorry about the long wait, but I was suffering from some writer's block and my computer just doesn't seem to like me anymore. Well, I got a very positive response for my last chapter, especially with that evil cliffy! Well, here are the winners of my little guessing game: Risen from the Ashes, Peachesxx, greenandsilver22, and .devioustricks. I guess I did better at foreshadowing than I thought! A lot of you were really close though! Okay, so I'm _planning_ on just writing one (or two) more chapter(s) after this and no epilogue. I just know that this story is coming to a close at this point. This chapter is definitely going to be long, (like over 5,000 word count) just like the last one. Anyways, REVIEW!

Previously on Phoenix Flames:

"_Professor, she will be all right . . . won't she?" asked Draco not knowing whether to fully believe Madame Pomfrey's words or not._

_He looked down at them with sad uncertainty, "I'm afraid that is something that even I could not tell you Mr. Malfoy, as I don't know. It's up to her now as to whether or not she'll survive. Now, I must ask you a very important question. I need the identity of the water elemental that attacked Miss Turoe."_

_Blaise responded, "Well, at first we thought it was Lavender Brown, but it was someone far more powerful than that. It was . . ."_

**Chapter 17 – The Phoenix Awakens**

"_Hermione . . . Hermione . . . Hermione, get up. Now!" a voice demanded._

_Hermione opened her eyes hesitantly. "What do you want?" she asked to no one in general. Her eyes widened when she saw who she was talking to. "Who the hell are you?"_

"_Come on Hermione, you can't be that far gone yet. Who do you think I am?" said the form in front of her smirking._

"_You're me, but . . . that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever unless I'm dead." Hermione looked up in surprise, "I'm not dead am I?"_

"_You aren't exactly dead yet, but you're also not alive either. We're currently in the process of an elemental healing, which is why you are here instead of somewhere else. Your spirit is trapped right now as it were in your own mind because you were being careless and nearly got me killed. So I am given the obligation of baby sitting you until the healing takes effect and you make a decision as to what you are going to do about this situation. And you are partially correct, but I am not you per say. My name is Ashtoreth; I am the phoenix that resides in you, an extension of yourself. I indwelt you the first time you died and our spirits merged. And ever since then, you have also been a phoenix, with all of my powers to help you become stronger."_

"_The first time I died?" Hermione deadpanned to the spirit. "You're joking me right?"_

"_Absolutely not. I do not joke. You have died twice before this particular time. The first time was when you were just born. You were a stillborn as they deemed you. But the truth in the matter was that the human soul will linger with the body for a short while and I needed to find a body to indwell. A baby's body to be precise. You were just the ticket I needed. You agreed to host me and in return I agreed to give you my powers. You came into the powers much later than I would have expected or liked considering your personality. You have grown out of that personality though; when your parents died, your heart hardened. You have now extended to the other extremity of your personality-"_

"_What does this have to do with anything?" Hermione interrupted. "And, how do I get out of here?"_

"_Have you no respect child? I must explain some things about your situation before I feel that you can make an educated decision about where you will go from here. Now as I was saying . . . you have shut out virtually everyone so that you wouldn't be forced to suffer the pain again. You said that you didn't want to cause others pain the last time we met like this. You don't remember it though because you weren't in this process then. Elemental healing rituals make it so you have to make the conscious choice of whether or not to stay alive. Frankly, it's the worst idea I've ever heard of in my lifetime. That is beside the point though. Even though this process is impeding yours, it gives you a chance to learn the truth of what you have become. You don't even realize the fact that you've fallen for that human boy. You've never paid attention to that factor, yet I keep telling you constantly of your growing affections for him . . ." _

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"It was-"

"Headmaster Dumbledore!" came a distraught voice in the middle of Blaise's statement. The group of three looked towards the source of the voice and saw none other than Parvati Patil running towards them with tears streaming down her face. "Headmaster Dumbledore, something has happened to Padma!"

"Where is she Miss Patil?"

"Well, I went to look for her in the Head common room because we were going to do our homework together. Then I ran into Blaise and he asked me to get Draco, but he thought I was Pad-"

"Miss Patil, where is Padma?" Dumbledore interrupted.

The three of them just barely discerned the phrase, "She's in the twelve o' clock room." This was said in the midst of sobs and gasps for air.

The trio made their way to the clock hall and set the time for twelve, entered, and found Padma lying on the ground.

"Enneverate," said Dumbledore.

"Where am I?" she inquired looking around.

"You are in the twelve o' clock room Miss Patil." He waited for her to get a clear idea of her surroundings before he questioned her. "Padma, I need you to tell me what happened."

"I . . . I don't know. I just remember getting a note saying that quidditch practice was cancelled because Su was sick. So I told Parvati that I would meet up with her after I was done with the patrol. After that, I don't remember though."

Blaise and Draco were just barely able to contain their rage having known what had happened immediately following.

"You don't remember what happened . . ." Draco stated flatly.

She looked at him bewildered, like he was accusing her in that simple phrase. "Well . . . no. I guess you could say the details are sketchy after that point."

"You don't remember how when we were patrolling just after that, you kept complaining that I wasn't wearing my badge. So I blew up at you and I went to go find it?" said Draco like he was ineffectually telling a narrative that she should already know every intricate detail of.

"No, I think something else happened," she said as though some of the memory was coming back with a painfully sluggish nature.

"Something else, like what, Miss Patil?" interjected Dumbledore.

She was silent for a moment as though trying to recall. "I ran into Lavender Brown . . . she asked if Parvati was around. I said that she wasn't, but I would be seeing her just after my patrol with Draco. Then I went to the Head common room so I could get him so we could just get the patrol over with."

That sounded as though it would be completely normal, except that something seemed to be missing from the account.

"Was there any more to that conversation with Lavender?" asked Blaise.

She paused again. "No I don't think there was because I just went to get . . . Wait, no, she asked me if I knew about Parvati being a water elemental. Though I thought the question in and of itself was random, I felt it was harmless so I said, 'why wouldn't I? We're twins; we have the same magical powers.' Then she said she didn't know I was an elemental. I said, 'Yes, I am; but I'm even more powerful than Parvati because she hasn't focused on training her abilities like I have.' After that, I don't recall what happened until just now. Everything went completely blank."

'Interesting,' thought Blaise. "Had you considered that Lavender Brown might have cursed you?"

Padma looked at Blaise like he was crazy. "Lavender Brown would never do anything like that! I know we're not the best of friends like she and my sister are, but we're close enough that I could tell you from experience that Lavender doesn't have an evil bone in her body."

Draco nearly snorted having known that you could never trust anyone judged solely off of how they appeared to the public. "And you tell me, does this sound like something you would do? Complain about my not wearing my badge and near the end of the patrol make me go get it. Well that seems like something that is just irritating and you might do if you're provoked enough, but that's far beside the point."

Blaise thought that Draco was spending just a little too much time on a moot point and cut in, "And then we can only speculate about what happened after that, but I think it goes something like this though; you give Phoenix a note telling her that there was quidditch practice when there in fact, was not. After that, you were hiding out in the locker room just waiting for her, and I'm assuming that you turned on the showers so there would be moisture in the air. And when she got there, you were being attacked by her. Draco and I had come in by this point and tried to make her stop. What happened next, you might be wondering? Well, this is my favourite part of your transgressions, you made a shield of water to protect yourself and when the heat waves stopped, you attacked her with the shield of icy water. You said you could kill her if you wanted to, but you weren't going to. And then you said, "See you in Hell Granger," with a very eerie laugh. Any of this seeming familiar like something you would normally be doing?"

Padma was becoming distressed by the recount of the events she couldn't even remember, "I didn't mean for any of that to happen, I would never attack Phoenix of my own free will, and I would never call her Granger. I would have no reason to call her that when she's not Hermione. And as for my attacking her, the whole point of being a water elemental is defense, not offense."

"Miss Patil, I have a theory as to why this is happening. It might be just a wild goose chase, but I have the feeling that Miss Brown used the Imperius Curse on you earlier this evening. That could account for your lack of memory about what happened during the phase when you were blacked out."

"Yeah, maybe, but I just can't believe that she would do that. She couldn't have," said Padma with conviction.

"I know of one way . . . get Lavender in here. Also, get some Veritaserum from Snape so she can't lie about any of it," said Draco like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"A very good idea Mr. Malfoy, let's do that and put an end to this guessing game," said Dumbledore as he went over to the fireplace that was in the room. In using the floo network, he called to Snape.

"Albus, what is it? I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm watching over my niece right now."

"This has everything to do with Miss Turoe's current condition. Severus, would you kindly bring a bottle of Veritaserum, a bottle of Stordimento potion, and bring Miss Brown in here?"

Snape nodded stiffly, and the floo connection shut off.

It was ten minutes later that brought the typical entrance that was associated with the Potions Master as well as the footsteps of one Lavender Brown, who followed sullenly in his shadow.

"Severus, if you would please make some tea. And Mr. Zabini, Mr. Malfoy, and Miss Patil, if you would please give the rest of us some privacy, that would be most appreciated," said Dumbledore looking pointedly towards each of the aforementioned.

Padma, Draco, and Blaise obliged, but rather reluctantly. None wanted to leave in the event that Lavender was discovered to have caused the whole mess in the first place.

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_Before Hermione could interrupt her she said, "I am aware that phoenixes as a rule do not feel emotion with a few minor exceptions, but that does not mean I don't encourage the emotions of you, my human counterpart. Especially not when those very feelings are destroying you by keeping them locked up inside and hidden away from everyone including yourself. I also think that those guidelines you live by are leading you down the path of self-destruction when you have been so blatantly contradictory in how you follow them. That isn't to say that they are wrong, but no one should ever force themselves not to love just because of a silly set of guidelines. Even if it is to honour the memory of your parents."_

"_What do you mean I'm forcing myself not to love? Of course I love people, and I wouldn't deny myself that privilege just for the sake of the rules that my parents gave me."_

"_And yet you have. You are aware that even your mother and father didn't follow those guidelines right? The point of those guidelines has been lost on you for years . . ."_

"_What are you talking about? Of course my parents followed those rules! I know I may be naïve at times, but my parents wouldn't lie to me about following the rules. They always taught me to follow the rules unless there was a just rationale in not doing so," Hermione reasoned._

"_All of these years with those two boys have really made you thick in understanding certain nuances of conversation; you do know that don't you?"_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_Use your common sense, girl! Haven't you been paying attention to the word you've been using compared to the word I have been using? What you are so strictly following are guidelines, and your parents taught them to you as such. You have blown it out of proportion all of these years so that you have considered them rules instead. The point of them giving you that book was not for you to treat those words as though they were the be all and end all guide to your life. Even the book says that they are simply guidelines, you know suggestions; so what was it that was lost in translation to your head in reading and hearing that?"_

"_Nothing was lost; it does call them rules in the book. You've seen it too . . . it says that there is no punishment for breaking the rules, but they should still be followed. I have the entire thing memorized and it does in fact call them rules twice."_

"_Yet that was the only time it was mentioned, meaning that breaking those rules is justified if you are aware of how judge a good relationship from a bad one. And I think you are fully capable of doing so. Not to mention that I'm afraid to say I do agree with Terry Boot's comment . . . those rules are psycho bull shit and you know it."_

"_I am still curious as to how this is supposed to help me get back to the real world," Hermione interjected._

"_It won't. But you need to hear this because everyone else has been telling you and you won't listen. For all intents and purposes, this is an untimely, but convenient intervention in regards to your current lifestyle. So listen carefully because I have you here with me until I have been restored, and only then can you leave since it is me that your professors were attempting to heal in the first place. The only choice you get in this matter is whether you will live or die, but if you die you will leave behind all of those who love you and you will also force me to find another host. If you choose life, things will be different for you this time, much like the last time when your personality changed, although I cannot begin to say what will change about you this time. But I highly recommend against the second option considering your soul would be forced to stay as it is now, just floating in the abyss of your dead mind with nowhere to go to for all of eternity . . ."_

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Blaise looked over to Draco and noticed the worry that marked his features, "She'll be fine Drake, if there's one thing I know about her it's that she's too damn stubborn to die like that."

"I know. But the chance still stands that she might not make it. And I don't want her to die not knowing . . ."

"Not knowing what?" Blaise was playing coy and Draco knew it, but he couldn't help how he reacted to the statement.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about Zabini, so don't try and bait me, it won't work."

"I don't know what on earth I did to deserve such a negative response out of you two today. First with her, and now it's you," he said in mock hurt.

"Good, you deserved it with all of this nonsense . . . trying to get people to tell you things you already know the answers to . . . God knows you deserve a beat down too . . ." he said cynically.

"Oh, she already took care of that too . . ."

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"Please take a seat Miss Brown," said Dumbledore congenially.

Lavender complied and looked at the Headmaster calculatingly.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" at her nod he turned to Snape and said, "Severus if you would please."

Snape set a small teacup in front of each person and took a seat next to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore took a sip of his tea and waited for Lavender to do the same. He set the cup down and looked at Lavender serenely.

"Miss Brown, have you ever heard of a man named Jack Willis?" he asked very suddenly.

"Sure, who hasn't? He's the leader of the Black Widows, but he's supposed to be in jail right now," she answered wondering where the conversation was going.

"Supposed to be?" asked Snape.

"Well, as the story goes; he shot Hermione Granger three times and got sent to jail. But he was able to escape because it was a muggle prison he was sent to. He had to lay low for a while though."

"Do you know what happened to Hermione after that?"

"Yeah, she was sent to the Wizarding Witness Protection Program. She assumed the identity Phoenix Turoe and sent letters to Harry, Ginny, Ron, and I saying that she wouldn't be coming back ever. But she's back in school under her alias as Phoenix with some sap story about how she came to be here basically."

"I am assuming then that you did not believe this story?" asked Dumbledore trying to slowly bring about the topic he was truly wanting to talk about.

"Well no of course not, I knew she didn't have an adopted sister, and it seems rather too convenient that she just showed up when she did."

"How did you know that her family had never adopted a child?" asked Snape accusingly.

"Well, because anyone who happens to be involved with the Black Widows in any way knows the Granger family. You know, the parents were dentists as a cover-up, the mother was a squib . . . father was a muggle . . . a son in the Scorpions . . . and a daughter with a magical talent that could possibly be comparable to Rowena Ravenclaw. But there was never any mention of an adoption. It was a pathetic lie and anyone with any brains at all should have been able to figure it out. Even without the inside knowledge from the Black Widows."

"So is that to say that you're in the Black Widows?"

"It would seem that way wouldn't it?" she took another sip of her tea.

"Did Jack Willis have you spy on Hermione and try to kill her?" asked Snape cutting directly to the point.

"Yes . . . yes he did. But he asked me to make it inconspicuous looking with no evidence to point to me."

"So what is it you did to make this death seem inconspicuous?"

"Well, I had remembered Parvati once telling me that she was an elemental. I knew that to vanquish a fire based creature, you would need to use a water elemental and I planned to use Parvati to do so, but I had to get it so Hermione would be alone first. So I figured out the Ravenclaw quidditch schedule and put something into Su Li's food this evening so he would be incapacitated. Then I made sure Hermione wouldn't be able to find out that there would be no practice. The fact that her brother kept her out until after dinner took care of that. I had some second year Ravenclaw give her a note that there was practice. But when I needed to get to Parvati I couldn't find her . . . so I used Padma instead. Either way it worked perfectly."

"Thank you Miss Brown. That is all. Would you kindly return to Gryffindor tower so I can discuss this with Professor Snape?"

"Certainly," she responded amiably and leaving immediately.

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_Much time had passed in silence following the sentiment. "I didn't mean to frighten you child; it's just that you must be aware of the consequences should you choose to die like you wanted to earlier. But the time has come now for you to make a choice. It is my hope that you will choose to live and take to heart what I have told you."_

"_What that in summary, I'm just a mindless idiot who has no love in my heart because of a book?" she remarked._

_Ashtoreth smirked at the summation, "Something along those lines . . . Now make your decision. . ."_

"_I have already chosen," she said as though she didn't need anyone to tell her what to do . . ._

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"What are we going to do Albus?" inquired Snape.

"That, Severus, will remain for Miss Granger to decide when she wakes up."

"You assume she will awaken then?" Snape asked with a faint glimmer of hope hidden deep in his eyes.

"I have a feeling she will recognize that she still has much left to accomplish. I think she will also realize that she has crippled herself emotionally and rectify the situation. But Severus, I would advise you to be well prepared to cope with an emotional breakdown on her behalf."

"What makes you say that Albus?" he said with a slight smirk adorning his usually hardened features.

"You know how impetuous Mr. Malfoy can be when goaded with the right stimulus," he said with a knowing twinkle lighting his eyes with the ever familiar mischievous glint he was so well known for.

"You are aware of it too then . . ."

"I think one of us should also convince Mr. Malfoy to tell her. It is unfair of him to keep her in the dark . . ."

"Albus, ever the romantic . . ."

"That is not what I meant Severus . . ."

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"Drake, are you going to tell her about . . . you know . . ." Blaise indicated Draco's arm.

Draco looked down at his fully clothed arm as though expecting to see through the material there. He conscientiously pulled the sleeve down further, paranoid that it would show. "She'd kill me. Not literally, but you know what I mean."

"You don't need to tell me twice. I still think you should tell her."

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Zabini, I need a moment with the two of you in private," said Dumbledore coming up behind them.

They walked over to the hospital wing and stood by the door, "What is it sir?"

"I must inform you that your assumptions about Miss Brown were correct. But before you try to do anything rash, it is not for you to decide what to do, it is for Miss-"

"Albus! I have wonderful news . . ." said Madame Pomfrey as she slammed the doors open in a rush and noticed the group of three collaborated by it.

"Yes Poppy, what is it?" he asked.

"She has awakened!"

This instantly caught the younger boys' attention and they began to rush the door.

"A moment if you would please. I think you should prepare yourselves before you see her. She does not look quite like herself anymore."

"Nothing could shock me about her," they said in unison. They hurried into the hospital wing to be met with a sight that neither of them had quite expected.

Hermione noticed the two gawking boys and smirked, "What, do I have something on my face?"

She noticed her accent was gone. It had reverted back to her old British accent.

They were rendered speechless by the girl in front of them. Madame Pomfrey came in and chuckled as the two stood there mouths open. "You may want to take a look at this . . ."

She handed Hermione a mirror and she stood up to receive it.

Hermione shook her head, looked at the boys, and then looked at the mirror, which she promptly dropped. She didn't hear the glass shattering as she thought about what she had just seen.

Her face was the same, but her eyes had become golden and her hair had become straight and red, and it glowed like fire with even the slightest hint of light. She lifted a hand to feel her hair and came in contact with a texture so smooth and silky she had doubts that it was even her hair; after all, her hair couldn't be that soft even when she'd had it done professionally. Her hand drifted slightly down to her skin, which changed slightly lighter than the almost olive colour it had become, to a very light tan that seemed to glow with her inner fire. She could swear it felt almost like velvet.

She then looked down and realized she was in one of those ridiculous gowns meant for long term patients that covered next to nothing. She blushed slightly and went back to the bed and pulled the covers up to shield her legs from view.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, may I speak to her alone please? It's really important," asked Draco very quietly as the Headmaster walked into the room.

He smiled that knowing smile and said to everyone, "I really need to discuss something with Mr. Zabini and Poppy," said Dumbledore giving them a pointed glance.

"Of course," they said leaving the room, but not before Madame Pomfrey could hand Hermione her dry clothes.

Hermione looked at Draco and smiled, "That was odd."

Draco nodded silently and looked towards the door as she changed into her much warmer clothes.

Hermione looked over at Draco and said, "Would you care to join me over here? I'm decent now."

He walked over to the chair beside the bed and sat down.

"What's with the silent treatment Draco?"

"Nothing. It's just that I was really worried about you. We all were. And . . ." he trailed off, not really knowing what he wanted to say.

"And what?"

"And . . . I don't know . . . I was just really worried about you."

"Draco, what's the matter? You look really nervous," Hermione was feeling slightly anxious as well with his fidgeting, so she grabbed his hand and squeezed gently to reassure him.

He jumped slightly but smiled at her. "I have something that I want to tell you, but I don't really know how to say it. I'm not entirely sure how you'll take it either."

"Try me. I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think."

Taking a deep resolving breath, he plunged ahead without thought of consequence. "I should have told you this from the moment I first figured it out; I . . . I love you . . . there I said it. I love you."

Hermione felt her mouth drop. She couldn't say she hadn't expected it, but it was still shocking to hear.

"Well, are you going to say that you love him too . . . or just sit there with your mouth hanging open?" said Blaise as he walked back in the room.

"Were you just listening to that entire conversation Zabini?" said Draco looking at the Italian wearily.

"Yeah, in case you made a complete ass of yourself," he said with a smirk. "But, I'm taking the focus off of you two now. Well, I suppose I'll just be off then . . . carry on."

Draco watched Blaise leave and then turned back to Hermione to find a solitary tear sliding down her cheek. "What's the matter?"

She stood abruptly and walked to the door of the Hospital Wing, shadowed all the while by Draco. She turned around once she was out of the room. "I can't," she said weakly.

"Why?"

"There are things about me that you have no clue about Draco. How can you say you love me when you don't even know me? I don't know if I love you or not. I don't even know what love is anymore. I just . . . I can't," she concluded lamely and turned on her heel to leave as swiftly as she could.

Draco caught her arm and pulled her to him. He did something very unexpected then and bent down and caught her lips in a kiss, but just as suddenly, it was over. He spoke passionately, "Damn it Hermione! You can't pretend you don't feel anything and then keep hiding from your emotions so they don't catch up with you. This might be brash of me to say, but you can't say you haven't felt something towards me in all of this time."

With that, he turned and left. Hermione just barely had time to register what had happened just then as she saw Harry, Ron, and Ginny standing in the middle of the hall way in shock.

She couldn't deal with all of it anymore and there was only one person who could help her logically sort this out, she took one look at her friends and she ran . . .

A/N: Okay, I don't know if you will all be happy with that or not, but it'll have to do. Just remember to review! There's only a little bit left after this! Oh, and if you want an idea of what Hermione looks like now, just google the phrase:_ phoenix endsong 3 _and do an image search. Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW!


	18. ashtoreth's sacrifice

Author's Note: Okay, so this is the last chapter of Phoenix Flames! Finally! I hope you all have enjoyed my story as much as I have enjoyed writing it! Oh, and this chapter is also going to bepretty long.

Previously on Phoenix Flames:

_Draco caught her arm and pulled her to him. He did something very unexpected then and bent down and caught her lips in a kiss, but just as suddenly, it was over. He spoke passionately, "Damn it Hermione! You can't pretend you don't feel anything and then keep hiding from your emotions so they don't catch up with you. This might be brash of me to say, but you can't say you haven't felt something towards me in all of this time."_

_With that, he turned and left. Hermione just barely had time to register what had happened just then as she saw Harry, Ron, and Ginny standing in the middle of the hall way in shock._

_She couldn't deal with all of it anymore and there was only one person who could help her logically sort this out, she took one look at her friends and she ran . . ._

Chapter 18 – Ashtoreth's Sacrifice

Hermione felt tears coming down her cheeks as she ran through the halls. There was no way that this was happening she rationalized in her mind, but she knew that it had. 'Why did he have to do that now . . . Surely he must have realized that there are too many secrets I've been keeping from him? He has no idea who he's dealing with.' Hermione reached her location and knocked on the door in an almost frantic fashion.

"Who do you think you are pound-" Snape answered with an acrid edge to his tone. "Hermione, what's the matter?"

Hermione looked at him and burst out sobbing just as soon as the reality of the situation sunk in.

Sighing, Snape stood aside saying, "You may as well come in." Hermione did so quickly and he shut the door turning around. He ushered his distressed niece to the couch and said, "What happened?"

Realizing that he wouldn't understand a thing she said unless she calmed down, she took in a deep breath. "He told me that . . . he . . . he loves me."

He knew it had been coming. "I assume you are referring to Draco?"

She nodded. "Of course I'm talking about Draco. Who else would I be talking about?"

He knew she was conflicted over her feelings for him, but couldn't even begin to understand why. "I fail to see what is so horrible about that Hermione."

"It wasn't that. It was what he did after he told me. He . . . he kissed me."

Snape sighed again. 'Women and their silly emotions.' "Again, I don't see what the problem is."

Her eyes flashed briefly. "You don't get it. He knows I don't believe in kissing unless you're in love. And I can't love him, he deserves so much better. I've lied to him for the entire time he has known me. And he shouldn't be in love with me either . . . he doesn't even know who I-" Hermione cut herself off as she realized that her last statement wasn't true. When he had stormed off he called her Hermione. "Oh my God . . . he knew."

"Yes, he knew. He's not _that _thick," Snape said wondering when she'd catch on.

This made Hermione angry, "You knew he knew? How long has he known?"

"Well . . . it would be at least four months by now, I think. He said that he had been watching you when your other friends came up to you and Lavender almost called you Hermione. He had his suspicions from that, and then you showed him the three o' clock room. He figured it out from there."

"Why didn't he tell me?"

"Because he wanted you to tell him yourself. But you haven't exactly achieved that end yet."

"But why me? What did I ever do to deserve this? He didn't exactly make things easy on me back there."

"And you haven't made it easy on him for the entire year. He didn't deserve that you've been playing with his emotions if you honestly think you can't love him in return. And I don't know why he chose you, but accept the fact and move on."

"What are you talking about? I've done nothing to play with his feelings!"

"So you mean to say that all of that time you've spent together with all of those awkward moments, and then turning around and dating anyone who would take you wasn't toying with him? Funny, because I would have thought you'd known the difference."

"Have you been spying on me?" she asked increduously when she thought about the implications of that statement.

"No, you silly girl, but Draco has been confiding in me . . . much like you do from time to time."He saw the increduous look she sent his way,"Hard to believe that a Slytherin would be willing to confront their emotions head on and admitting to it while you spend your time trying to pretend they don't exist?"

"Why are you attacking me? I haven't done anything to deserve this from you either?"

"Because I want you to realize that you aren't the only person on the planet who is conflicted with their emotions. Draco has been worse off since you've been paying no attention to him."

"Of course I've been paying attention to him. I have spent every moment I can with him to make sure he's okay. I've done everything in my power to be with him . . . why are you taking my efforts as a joke?"

"Have you seen his arm recently? It's gotten worse."

"What are you talking about? He can't have. He promised me!" she wasn't too shocked that Snape knew that Draco mutilated himself now that they were having this converation.

"You needn't take my word for it. Just ask him yourself when you see him next time."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"I'm telling you because I know you're in love with him and yet, you're the only person who doesn't know it. And as much as I am loath to admit it, I want to see the two of you happy. I'm also telling you this because I think that you need to get over your foolish pride and tell him how you feel before it destroys you both."

Hermione replied to that sentiment rather shrilly, "Why does everyone keep saying that? How is it that everyone else is so convinced that I'm in love with him when I'm so unsure of that myself? How am I supposed to love someone when I have no understanding of what the hell love is in the first place?"

"Are you entirely sure that it is you who doesn't understand what love is?"

"Unless I'm schizophrenic I would have to agree."

Snape smirked at the irony he found behind the statement because in a sense she was acting that way, "And yet you fail to realize that the phoenix spirit that resides in you has over-powered your ability to gauge your own emotions. And you have let her take control of you."

"No I haven't, she has said the same thing as you. She said I've fallen for him. But it's not true."

"She would only say that if it were true. Deep down in your heart you have to realize that you have. Phoenixes don't lie about emotion, even if they can't feel it. And do you know why it is that they don't? Because if a phoenix were able to feel emotion they would be forced to spend eternity living in the memories of those feelings. They gave up that right so they wouldn't have to live their lives in misery. They knew that if they were to love, it would only hurt when they would be forced to outlive that love, and spend forever having to deal with the pain that comes with its loss."

"Wouldn't that make me incapable of love since I am a phoenix?"

"No. You are not a phoenix yourself.That's what I've been trying to tell you. Because humans are not immortal they have the capacity to love and be loved in return. The phoenix spirit in you knows that. It will not be able to reside in you forever because eventually you too will have to die. You though, have become emotionally unstable at this point. And if you refuse to let yourself love, you could easily destroy the phoenix's capability to leave your body and it will be forced to die with you in a certain aspect."

"That makes absolutely no sense."

Snape ran a hand through his hair and sighed with frustration, "Albus would be able to explain this much better than I can. Phoenixes are ultimately compassionate creatures. When a phoenix indwells you, it makes a pact with your spirit. It gives you the ability to experience the life that you otherwise would never have known. It does it because it expects you to use the life it gives you so that you can experience the emotions that it can't. That is how they learn; they pass that knowledge on once they leave your body so that all creatures can understand the wonder that is the human heart."

"But what does that have to do with Draco and me?"

"I have a feeling that you have allowed your phoenix spirit to overthrow your control of your emotions in place of theirs. It is only a very powerful phoenix-human combination that can do that, though it is very unintentional on their behalf . . . which means you had to willingly allow it to do so. It has gotten to the point that you have taken on all aspects of your phoenix . . . even your appearance has become like it."

Doing something quite unexpected to the both of them, she slapped him. "How can you be so bloody calm about this?" Hermione was livid with his always tranquil façade. "You're telling me I threw my feelings away and you act as though we were commenting on the weather!" She began to pace the room furiously.

He rubbed his cheek feeling the burn beginning to form, but he ignored it due to her current state. "Because, if I were to act as distressed about this as you, there would be no fixing it would there?"

She stopped moving and looked at her uncle. "There's a way to fix this? How?"

"You will have to exorcize your phoenix spirit. You have to ask it to depart from you."

"You mean kill her? Couldn't that kill me too, since she's been the one keeping me alive for my entire life? And wouldn't that make me lose my powers since she would no longer reside in me?"

"Well, not necessarily. I'm not going to lie and pretend that the outlook might not be bleak.It ultimately depends on how strong the bond is between the two of you; you could very well lose your memories as well and even then it's still a chance that I would advise you to take."

Hermione's eyes lit with her inner fire just then as the spirit of Ashtoreth indwelt her.

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_'Hermione, just do it. I'm willing to risk my life for you if it means you'd be able to love the boy the way you're meant to.'_

She knew that it was the phoenix speaking to her. 'But what happens if something goes wrong Ashtoreth? We could both die.'

'_Since when have you been afraid of death? You've been through it before and still come out on top, what makes it any different this time?'_

'This time, we will have to be parted forever. There will be no remnant of your existence left in me and then what will I do?'

'_You will love like you are supposed to. And even if we are parted, it would be more beneficial than you never being able to have human emotions again.'_

'But it's too late for me. I've hurt him beyond anything I can repair, so what's the point? He won't trust me anymore. I'll just be forced to suffer the pain of knowing that I lost the only person who will ever truly love me like that. Why would I chose to go through that?'

'_Be brave child. He has already told you that he loves you. And you will love him in return if you take your feelings back. I know it may be difficult to gain his trust back, but you should be willing to risk your heart for that love. Now just do it.'_

'All right . . . fine, I'll do it.'

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Snape watched in rapt fascination at his niece as she levitated into the air and was engulfed by a fire so bright he could only make out her lucid silhouette. Then he heard the sound of a phoenix song. It wasn't just her figure that he noticed in the light now; there was also a phoenix present, but it was also translucent and it seemed as though it was being emitted from Hermione herself just as the song seemed to be.

With each passing moment, the phoenix became slightly less visible and Hermione became even more so. And even though it seemed impossible, the fire surrounding the duo became much more intense in both brightness and heat.

Snape raised his arm to shield his eyes and he could feel the material beginning to singe on his sleeve.

Roughly a minute later, the fire died down and Hermione fell unceremoniously to the ground and then thephoenix fell on top ofher chest with a dull thud resounding throughout the room as they landed. Then the phoenix disintegrated, leaving behind no vestige of her ever being there.

Too shocked to do anything, Snape stood stalk still and observed his niece having lost the ability to move temporarily.

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There was a knock on the door and that was what brought him out of his stupor. He answered the door distractedly, "Yes, what is it?"

He didn't even acknowledge the presence until they replied, "Professor, Draco is being attacked by Jack Willis. He just killed Lavender Brown. I can't do anything to help because there's a shield I can't dispel blocking me from getting anywhere nearby."

They heard a groan coming from the corner of the room. "What's going on? What happened to her?"

"Well, Miss Granger has just exorcized her phoenix spirit if I am correct. Now, please take me to Mr. Malfoy."

Hermione was sitting in a daze and holding her throbbing head until she heard his name, "What about Draco?"

"He's being attacked by Jack Willis, who just killed Lavender Brown. We need to hurry and find a way to dispel the shield he put up," said Blaise as the two men turned to leave.

Hermione felt her insides boil at the mention of the man who killed her parents and attempted to kill her. "Wait! I'm going with you."

Neither of them argued as theyknew they werepressed for time and felt it was not well advised to quarrel with her, especially when her vengeful nature was coming into full swing.

They reached a hallway where they saw a small feminine body lying on the floor with a wand by the lifeless hand. They knew instantly that it was Lavender Brown, but they continued on down the hallway and took a turn but as soon as Snape tried tomove any further down the corridor (as he was in front of the other two,) he was clumsily thrown to the floor by an invisible force field. That was when they saw Draco dueling with a man whose back was conveniently turned to them.

Snape tried to lift the shield charm that was preventing them from moving any further. But he had no such luck with any of his attempts.

"Where is she?" asked Jack angrily.

"I don't know! What makes you think that I would know that?"

"You're her friend aren't you? So where is she?"

She felt something deep down that she had never realized was there as she watched Draco being attacked by the man who killed her parents. Hermione sighed in frustration. She knew what it was that was thwarting her uncle's efforts . . . the shield would only let her through. She stepped through it and called, "I'm right here you bastard, now leave him alone!"

"Stupefy!" he said as Draco dropped to the floor unconscious. Jack turned around with an almost psychotic grin plastered to his face. "Hermione, so wonderful to see you. You're looking remarkably well, though not quite like yourself. Too bad that won't last for very much longer."

She then realized that part of Ashtoreth still resided in her .. . she still had the appearance she had taken on after the third time she was revived. She was happy to know that her memory could still live on through her in that sense.

Shaking her head, Hermione looked at his face then and smirked at the burn scars he carried. "I see you're doing just lovely yourself," she said indicating his face.

He emitted a low growl and lunged towards her, "Bitch! Well I promised I would hunt you down until I killed you myself if my Black Widows couldn't, so it seems I will make good on my word. Expelliarmus!"

Hermione couldn't react fast enough to prevent her wand from flying out of her grasp. She made to get her wand, but was immediately stopped when he shouted another spell that she didn't hear clearly. All she knew is that it hit her and sapped her energy from her almost instantaneously. She heard his psychotic laugh and his approaching footsteps and tensed.

His figure towered over her and Hermione closed her eyes and resigned herself to the fact that this was the end. _'Hermione what are you doing? Kill him!'_

'Ashtoreth?'

'_No, I am you. You still have the trace powers of the phoenix, whether temporarily or permanently is still unknown, but you have them just the same. So how about giving it one more go and going after the wanker?'_

Hermione noticed the irony of the situation. 'So wait . . . I'm talking to myself?'

'_Yes! So stop it and kill the bastard before he kills you!'_

She opened her eyes then and Jack gasped as he saw what looked to be fire in them just like the first time he tried to kill her.

Hermione felt her hands heating up and looked down slightly to see them glowing with fire. She raised them to his calves and he yelped in pain. Hermione saw her chance to gain the upper hand as he jumped around looking like a moron who had gotten to close to a campfire. She shakily got to her feet and even though she was hunched over slightly and breathing hard from exertion, she was still an imposing and murderous looking figure that caused Jack to cower faintly.

Blaise and Snape jumped back as the shield suddenly lit on fire and they could no longer see the battle. Draco awoke and was surprised to see a sight he never expected to see again.

Hermione's eyes were taken over by her inner fire and her red hair fanned around her looking almost like a veil of flames. She lifted her arms and summoned a heat wave, which spread quickly through the fire circle that was surrounding the three.

She heard two yells of pain and realized that she had just attacked Draco as well as she looked into his eyes briefly.

Using what energy she could, she realigned the firewall so it surrounded only her and Jack. She knew that her heat waves alone would probably not kill the older wizard quickly enough to prevent anymore harm from coming to her. Then she concentrated as hard as she could to create a ball of fire in her hands. It took a lot of effort, but she finally had one in each hand and threw them at Jack, who had moved away just in time. She was panting and felt sweat rolling down her forehead heavily.

"Oh, poor Hermione, you're getting so tired already. Aquarto!" he pointed his wand at her. Hermione had never heard of the spell before, but assumed it was used to conjure water. And she was correct, a jet of water was sent in her direction.

It hit her arm as she jumped out of the way. She felt steam coming from her arm and gasped in pain as she grasped at her right arm feeling the heat leaving the limb rather quickly. She looked up at him with murder in her eyes and lifted her good arm conjuring a ring of fire, which reached the entire height between the floor and ceiling, to surround her and then spread throughout the small circle with high speed.

She was satisfied by the scream he gave and saw that his clothes had caught fire. His screams became more insistent the longer they lasted. She panted from the energy it took to keep the flames burning.

Hermione felt guilt tearing through her . . . no matter how much the man deserved it, she could not kill him. She willed all of the flames to vanish. The flames fell away and Jack fell to the ground still in pain with his skin looking charred. She quickly grabbed her wand from the ground. "Incarcerous," she said as ropes surrounded him so he would be incapable of moving. "Know this Jack Willis . . . this will be the only time I will ever give you the courtesy of living. I will allow you to rot in Azkaban after this. But, if you ever cross my path again, there will be hell to pay," she said deadly serious. "Stupefy!" she said and it knocked him out.

She looked around her at the three other men as she continued to gasp for air. She felt a faint smile cross her face at the fact that she had accomplished her revenge and now her parents' deaths were avenged.

She felt Blaise rush up to her and envelope her in a hug. "Hermione, I'm so glad you're all right," he said practically crushing her to him with the force in which he held her.

"I'm glad to see you too, but you're kind of ruining the point of my trying to get air back into my lungs . . ."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking!" he stepped away from her.

"I am going to retrieve Mr. Potter and Weasley . . . and Miss Weasley. They are probably quite worried about you by this point," said Snape leaving.

Blaise looked back towards the direction that Lavender's body was. "I should probably take care of the body," he said, and without further ado, he left the two of them alone.

Hermione knew they had done that on purpose, even if they were correct about what needed to be done.

Hermione turned to Jack and kicked him in the side in anger. Then she turned to face Draco, who was still on the ground and clasping his arm. She walked over to him and she could feel the tears in her eyes as she bent down to look at the damage she had done to him. She couldn't control the tears anymore when she saw his left arm. In place of the normal lines she was used to that marked his flesh was something that she hadn't expected. She lightly fingered the cuts and her tears began to flow freely. She watched then as the word 'HERMIONE' disappeared from his skin.

He was beginning to pull away from her wordlessly when she tackled him to the ground in a hug. "You . . . you . . . idiot!" he distinguished between her sobs. "How could you . . . take on Jack Willis . . . by yourself? You could . . . have . . . could have been killed!"

Not knowing what to do, he tried awkwardly to sit up so she wasn't crushing him. "You did," he mumbled quietly.

Hermione stopped crying then and looked up at him. "What?"

"You did. You took him on by yourself when you easily could have been killed. I fail to see the difference in our actions . . . except maybe the motivation behind them. I did it because he attacked me. You did it to avenge your parents."

Hermione bit her lip, "Yes I know. And I'm sorry. But that wasn't the main reason I did it . . ."

She trailed off as she heard three sets of footsteps rounding the corner. Her friends had impeccable timing as always . . . she realized sarcastically.

"Hermione are you all right?" questioned all three of them at once.

Then they noticed that she was with Draco. "Shit," Ginny muttered as they realized they had just called her Hermione in front of Draco.

Catching what they thought was wrong; Draco stood and said, "I already knew. So I'll just leave her to you lot."

"Draco," Hermione called, trying to get him to stop, but he just left her with her friends.

Hermione felt frustrated as she looked at her friends who all crowded around her to see if she was all right.

"We just heard about what happened," said Ron.

"We got here as fast as we could," said Harry.

"Are you all right?" Ginny questioned again.

They wouldn't let her leave for a few minutes until she shouted at them, "You guys are ruining my only chance to patch things over with Draco! Now let me go!"

They obliged her, seeing how distressed she was becoming.

"Good luck," Ginny called to her.

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Hermione ran with as much speed as she could muster in her weakened state. She caught up to him just as he was entering his common room. She stopped the door from closing with her hand and stepped in saying, "Draco, what is your problem?"

"Nothing."

She sighed and caught his arm, "I know you feel that you've taken a back seat to my friends Draco. I'm really sorry about that. I should have spent more time with you than I did instead of always listening to them when they asked me to go with them."

"Spending more time with me wouldn't have helped either. It would have just made things worse," he mumbled to himself.

Hermione's face softened at the statement. "Draco look at me." She waited for him to do as she said, "I know you feel angry with me about what I said earlier this evening."

"It's fine, just drop it," he said pulling away from her and heading towards the staircase.

"No it's not fine and I won't drop it!" she yelled at him.

"Well, there's no use in apologizing for it when you've made it very clear where we stand," he said when he started ascending the stairs.

"Damn it Draco! I'm trying to tell you something important," she said rushing over to him and grabbing his arm again and this time pinning him against the wall so he wouldn't leave.

"Fine, what is it?" he said flatly as he looked anywhere but at her.

"You have to realize something . . . I was telling the truth when I said I couldn't love you," he scoffed at her statement, but she pressed on, "but not for the reason you think. My phoenix spirit overthrew my feelings because I couldn't control it anymore. My phoenix gave up its life because it knew that. She told me that I needed to love you like I was supposed to instead of keeping her alive and never being able to feel the things I was supposed to. She sacrificed herself so that I could feel again. And you know what I found out?"

He looked her in the eye finally, "What?"

Instead of answering him, she stood up on her toes and kissed him. Unlike their first kiss, it was much softer, though it held all of the emotions she had pent up inside. "Even though I couldn't feel anymore, you still penetrated through my heart. Those moments were real . . . you didn't imagine them and neither did I.And I-"

"You're babbling Hermione," he said softly with a touch of amusement in his tone.

"Sorry. The point is that somehow, I was afraid of hurting again after my mum and dad were killed and so I wouldn't let myself love anymore. Not until you that is."

He was back to his old cocky self at this point, "So you're saying you love me then?"

She glared at him until she realized he was joking and smiled, "Yes you great dolt. I love you."

A smile lit up his face. "I love you too," and he bent down and kissed her with all of the passion he felt. She kissed him back and for once felt glad that she would bechucking that damned book out of her life and glad for Ashtoreth's sacrifice . . .


End file.
